Of Moonlight and Shadows
by Jayden-the-Jaded
Summary: In a world where creatures of the night exist, Serena works for an organization created to police the supernatural races. As Serena investigates a series of murders, she soon finds herself the target of another kind of predator: Endymion. BEING REWRITTEN
1. Of Murphy's Law

**AN: You might be getting a feeling of déjà vu, but yes, you **_**have**_** seen this fic before. I didn't like it and took it down. And now it's back better than ever (well, I hope)XD I changed a lot of things in this fic so enjoy! **

_Disclaimer_: I do not own Sailor Moon. It is property of Takeuchi Naoko, Kodansha, Toei Ltd., and tons of other people who aren't me. Any of the characters or places that you recognize within the confines of this story also fall into this category. This standard disclaimer applies to all of the following chapters in this story.

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**Chapter One: Of Murphy's Law**

At the back of a nameless pub, Agent Moon sat slouching in a corner booth. From her seat, she had a good view of both the bar and the three exits. Every few minutes, her eyes would glance up from her drink, taking in the darkened interior of the pub and its patrons. The place was packed with men staring at a large TV screen along the far wall.

She hunched her body over her third drink as the hairs in the back of her neck prickled their warning of a premonition. Her hand momentarily tightened on the glass. She closed her eyes and let the vision wash over her.

Opening her eyes, Moon smirked. So her target had finally made a choice.

'_About damn time,'_ she thought sourly as she took a swing of her drink. Her eyes made their customary rounds through the smoke-filled air, before she spotted the familiar figure of her target making his way around the pool tables. From the corner of her eyes, she noticed another figure making their way toward the pub's entrance.

They arrived at the pub door at the same time, from opposite directions. Her target stepped back to let the taller, broader man approach the door first. The taller man cocked his head to the side, as if he were debating with himself, before he opened the door and gestured for Moon's target to leave first.

Moon surreptitiously watched them leave with something akin to foreboding. She anxiously waited for the minutes to tick by. Making her way to the bar, she quickly paid for her drinks and left.

The pub was located at the end of one of the many deserted streets that made up this part of the city. So it came as no surprise to Moon that she easily spotted her target as he swiftly passed underneath the only working light post, his lanky form hunched over. The trepidation she'd been feeling all day intensified at the sight of the man she'd seen leaving with her target. It sent a chill up her spine. The man was wearing a hoodie, which made identifying him an impossible task.

Still standing a few inches from the pub's door, Moon's body was tense with hyper-alertness, her head lowered as she tracked her target through lowered lashes. Moon tried stretching the tension from her stiff limbs. When her muscles refused to loosen, she inhaled a deep breath and held it until the aching in her shoulders finally eased. Stuffing her hands into the pockets of her lightweight black trench coat, she reminded herself that this was a simple retrieval mission, that nothing should go wrong, and that if anything did, she was qualified to take care of it. So what if her sixth sense was telling her something wasn't right, and that something was going to go horribly wrong any moment now? This was her _job_. And if worst came to worst, she had backup. Everything was going to be _fine_.

Moon knew how this was supposed to go. Like all her recent missions, it would follow the same pattern: shadow the target until their daily routine was memorized, figure out who their friends and enemies were, make contact with the target, and choose the day to do the pickup. Shrugging off any lingering unease, she waited until the target and his companion rounded the corner to follow them, making sure to maintain a safe distance.

Her target was a twenty-five year-old were-bear. An American black bear orphaned at a young age. He'd found his way into a notorious tribe of black bears who thought stealing and selling illegal weapons were the best way to make a living. They were slowly traveling north from their base in Mississippi, never staying more than two months in any given location. Moon had a pretty good idea that Canada was their destination.

Usually, crimes of this nature were handled by the local police, but when the weapons stolen belonged to the Department of Magical Creatures' Relations and could be used to wipe out supernatural beings, things were handled by the Magical Investigation Division. Too many unprepared and unsuitably skilled local police officers had met their end at the hands of supernatural beings. That was why MID had been created by the higher ups at DMCR; the division was humankind's primary defense against delinquent supernaturals.

The streets were far from being deserted. People filed in and out of the bars and motels that made up most of this seedy area of town, some congregating on the sidewalks as cars drove by.

Her target and his companion kept to well lit areas, walking where it was most crowded with people. Crossing to their side of the street, she bumped into a wayward drunk. All it took was that one moment of distraction for her to lose the pair.

She swore softly. The target must be onto her. The last time she'd seen him, earlier into the night, he'd been alone, sitting at the farthest corner of the bar, hunched over a drink. She should have known something wasn't right the moment he'd left the bar with his friend in the hoodie. She wondered what had given her away. How had her target known that he was being followed? He'd shown no signs of being that much of a thinker. He was the weakest link in his tribe. She couldn't afford to lose him. Not now when she was so close to closing this case.

She glared at the drunk menacingly. As drunk as the man was, he knew danger when he saw it. He didn't even wait for the blonde to prove how dangerous she was before hastily making himself scarce.

There was a short pause as Mercury —back at MID headquarters— analyzed the situation. Fundamentally, her computer only gave her basic knowledge of what was going on with Moon. The target was still moving, yet Moon had stopped. Years of experience had taught Mercury that Moon's lack of volubility was usually inversely proportional to the direness of the situation. When the blonde did not immediately start swearing up a storm, she asked, "Moon? What's the situation?"

Moon gave herself a moment to thumb down the volume on her earpiece before responding, "I think I lost them."

Now was the moment of truth, she could either let her target go free for another day and potentially risk the chance of him and his tribe skipping town, or she could continue with the chase. Moon knew that according to the two-month rule that the tribe followed in how long they stayed in a location it was time for them to move out. Moon, who'd invested three frustrating months tracking down possible leads, wasn't just going to let them escape that easily.

Normally, when unexpected variables were added, she'd back out. That's what made her one of her unit's top retrievers— she knew when to retreat. But this case was _different_. She couldn't risk the possibility of them leaving the city and she knew that's exactly what would happen if she let her target go. He'd warn his tribe and her case would fall apart. Moon didn't care what she had to do to keep this from happening, she was close to figuring out the whereabouts of the tribe's hideout and if there was even a slight chance that he was leading her directly to them, she'd risk it.

"Mercury, now would be a good time to send in some backup."

"I'm on it," she replied tersely.

It took only a moment for Mercury to give her a positive fix on her target's location. Moon thanked God for the tracking device she'd slipped on the target earlier that night.

She felt a rush of adrenaline pump through her system as Mercury started naming street after street. Moon started walking quickly through the crowded streets. A moment later, when the throng of people thinned, she gave chase, the thudding of her boots on the asphalt making a lonely, ghostly sound. She ran block after block as Mercury's directions continued to drone monotonously into her ear.

It took Moon— who only had a basic knowledge of the area— a while to realize that she was heading for the old warehouse district. MID intelligence knew that some ragtag were-bear tribes had access to those buildings. Chances were she'd find her target's tribe of were-bears in one of those abandoned buildings.

Finally, Mercury said the blessed words, "Ahead of you."

Moon huffed out a breath and willed her legs not to slow. Not now, when she was so close to catching up.

Ten minutes later, out of breath, frustrated, and faced with a dead end, Moon knew without doubt that she had been tricked. It wasn't as if she hadn't deduced this beforehand; this only confirmed what she already knew. Her target knew she was coming for him.

"Mercury, why is there a wall in front of me?" Hunched over with her hands on her hips, she heaved in a breath. She was becoming more than a little annoyed by the situation.

Unfazed, Mercury responded as calmly as she could, "There's a series of buildings beyond it. Try to scale it if you can."

"Right."

After a quick glance around to check for observers, Moon placed both hands on the surface of the brick wall, trying to find any serviceable cracks. Satisfied that she would not fall and break her neck, Moon tentatively started climbing. It took her a few tries, but she was finally able to boost herself over the barrier and into the dingy darkness beyond it. She landed unceremoniously with a loud thump.

Abandoned buildings loomed ominously in the dark, and the deathly silence of the night set alarms off in her head. The foreboding feeling of uneasiness that came with being prescient increased threefold. It was then that Moon sensed she was being watched. The reversal of the situation put her on edge.

Searching through her pockets, she pulled out a pair of night vision glasses, silently thanking Andrew for having reminding her to take one with her. Once her vision finally adjusted, she breathed, "I'm over."

After she heard the okay signal, she took off at a dead run. She was in hostile territory and hoped to God she encountered no more unnecessary obstacles. She had a bad feeling that she would not walk away from this mission unscathed. And her colleagues wondered why she hated solo missions with only a disembodied voice in her ear as company. She only hoped backup would arrive before she was torn to pieces.

"He's a couple of blocks from you."

"Roger that." She put on a fresh burst of speed. She soon became lost in a dark pathway of broken down buildings and quickly discovered that it widened into a maze of back alleys.

It was only when she reached another dead end in the maze that she realized she was caught in a trap of her own making. The darkness of the narrow alleyway became a suffocating blanket of unease.

"Moon, be on guard. Target's right ahead of you."

She came to a full stop. Her mind went into hyper-alert mode as she waited for a sign that her target was there in the darkened abyss. The seconds slowly ticked by.

She didn't have to wait long before he acted. She sensed a subtle shift of movement as his eyes flashed in the darkness of the alley. Moon ignored both of the two guns she had on her person at all times: a standard issue .45 caliber Glock nestled in its secure place beneath her coat, the other, a modified Magnum .32 MID issue, filled with customized bullets, and capable of blowing a man away at thirty paces, was at her hip for easy access. She wouldn't need either of the two tonight. She was going to stun her target unconscious.

She should have realized that if things could go wrong, they usually would. Her prescient talent hadn't been wrong yet, so why had she ignored it?

She drew in a breath, and pulled out her customized zap gun. The weight of the weapon felt reassuring in her hand. One shot, she told herself. That's all she needed to incapacitate him.

Moon carefully scanned the shadows ahead of her. He had to be here somewhere. There was no other way out. He was just as trapped as she was.

"Backup is on the way. Mars is two blocks from where you are and the rest of the team is closing in."

That was one piece of good news tonight; at least she wouldn't have more were-bears to deal with. Mars would never let her live this down.

She decided to take action. She walked further into the alley, gun-arm extended. "You know," she began, finally addressing him, "you have one of two options: you can come with me and answer just a few simple questions, or I can make you." She shot him a radiant smile. "How's that sound?"

She was close enough to see him clearly now. His arms were crossed against his broad chest as he regarded her contemptuously, a callous, taunting smile gracing his thin mouth. He started laughing, a harsh and steady sound that reverberated throughout the darkness. "You're not gonna make it outta here alive."

She tried to fight off the chill that was seeping into her bones. She gave him her best impassive-cop face. "I never said you were."

He laughed derisively. "Indeed," her target drawled, looking at her in a way that made the hairs on the back of her neck rise. He took a step toward her.

She fought off the instinctive urge to back away.

The heavy feeling of malice that blanketed the air nearly choked her. It pounded away at her resistance, and almost broke through. For a moment, she could only stand there unable to move a muscle. Mind games, she told herself. All these predatory types liked to play mind games.

'_Fight this off!'_ she thought, furious that he had even dared to play that trick on her. She swiftly reinforced her mental shields. "I wouldn't try that again if I were you."

He snarled as he lunged at her. She quickly sidestepped his next attack and aimed a kick at his torso.

It was then all her senses began flashing bright red danger signals in her brain. There was something moving swiftly behind her. _'Oh hell,'_ she thought, but even as she instinctively spun around to face the intruder, prepared to shoot, she found herself backhanded into a nearby wall.

Her tailbone hit the solid brick wall with bruising force, her head smacking into the concrete. All breath left her as she slid down the wall and crumpled to the ground. For a moment she lay still, catching her breath and reacquiring her bearings. Her head started to pound rhythmically to the sound of Mercury screaming, "Moon!"

Her body screamed in protest as she scrambled to her feet, her spine popping uncomfortably as she leaned against the wall for support. She wondered why she hadn't seen that one coming. And why was it that these shapeshifters felt the need to smack her around so much, anyway? She pressed a hand to her temple, easing her star-spangled vision. If she had to go to the hospital one more time for work related injuries, she was sending this guy the bill, even if he was in prison.

She soon realized that seeing stars wasn't her only problem.

"Grizzly!"

It took her a moment to realize that the roar was coming from her target. She watched through blurred eyes as her target made a convulsive attempt to escape from the new threat's grip. He was huge; there was no other way to explain it. It was as though he was made up entirely of muscle.

Moon tried her best not to panic. Panic led to carelessness and carelessness usually led to death. No, if anyone was going to die tonight, she refused to let it be her. "MID. Put him down— _now_."

The intruder turned his head and stopped short. The hunger in his gaze was chilling. "You'll make a wonderful meal."

Her stomach lurched as he dropped her target, a predatory gleam in his smile. He pivoted slowly and began to stroll toward her.

From her position across the dingy, narrow alleyway, she resisted the growing impulse to run away and never look back. Malice and killing intent rolled off him in waves. It was all she could do to keep her feet rooted to the ground.

A ripping growl tore from her target's throat. He sprang to his feet, a snarl curling his lips, and leapt toward her stalker.

Before either she or her target could react, the intruder had jerked out a knife, and with a kind of abrupt, yet unhurried finality, he plunged it between the ribs of his natural enemy. He twisted the knife, deeply burying it. Moon swore she could hear her target's bones crack. Her target choked out a gasp, his eyes growing wide, his silent, anguished scream dying on his lips, never to touch the air.

After snapping her target's neck, he flung the twitching body into the darkness. With a flick of his wrist he nonchalantly wiped the shiny silver blade clean on his jacket. His attention had never wavered from her. "Now where were we?"

Moon willed herself to _think_. She knew she didn't stand a chance against him in hand-to-hand combat. Not only did he outweigh her due to his massive size, but having seen the way he'd just flung away her target's body, as though it weighed nothing, she knew it was likely she wouldn't survive. No, she'd have to rely on her guns. She quickly pulled out the one nestled at her back and switched off the safety. She leveled it in his direction, waiting for him to make his next move. "Come any closer and I shoot."

If there was one thing Moon could brag about from her time at the training academy, it was the fact that she was a great shot. She could hit a projectile moving at sixty miles per hour, and any target within fifty feet, without batting an eyelash.

"Mars is on her way."

It felt reassuring to hear Mercury's calm voice in her ear again. However, the sense of danger still prevailed. She had no idea how she was going to get out of this one with only a few scratches and bruises as battle scars. She'd be amazed if she didn't break anything. The adrenaline came flooding back in that instant, pounding through her veins. She wasn't one to give up, and if it meant she'd have a broken rib or two when this was all over, she would deal.

Her senses expanded as she felt an eerie calmness take over. And so, when he leaped toward her faster than her eyes could follow, she found herself reflexively pulling the trigger with deadly precision. All she needed to do, she found herself thinking as she followed his barely visible form with her senses, was have the bullet of nitric acid nick him, and this would all be over.

This plan of attack would have worked, except she'd underestimated her opponent's speed. She had assumed something that big would be slower in movement and reaction.

'_I hate this job,'_ she thought to herself as was slammed into a wall for what was the second time that night. Pain exploded behind her eyelids. She ignored it.

He slammed her gun arm into the brick wall, squeezing her wrist until she was forced to drop the gun. Using her imprisoned arm, he pulled her closer, twisting her arm until a resounding pop was heard.

She ground her teeth together as he trapped her between the wall and his body. He sniffed at her neck and then licked it.

'_I'm going to kill him,'_ she thought furiously as she stomped on his foot and elbowed him in the gut. Putting some much-needed space between them, she dodged another attack. With a well placed kick to the torso, she was slammed into wall.

Rolling away from another kick, Moon slapped the dirty concrete of the alleyway. She didn't hesitate before immediately jumping to a fighting stance. She noticed that her gun was nowhere near her person. She almost panicked but remembered her backup. And then she heard it, a faint and subtle hiss from much too close overhead. Her attacker toppled right before her eyes.

Squatting on the ground, she reached for her alternate, clicking the safety off, prepared to shoot the next thing that came into the alley. She wouldn't make the same mistake again, not tonight.

She stared in astonishment as Mars landed smoothly into the alleyway, having jumped from a nearby rooftop. Clearly pleased with herself, she surveyed her work.

"Yeah, I took care of it." Her voice was commanding and sounded too loud in the darkened alley. She kicked the unconscious were-bear in the ribs before bending down to handcuff him.

Still bewildered, Moon stared at Mars' silhouetted form in amazement. "So, how long have you been up there?"

"Long enough to see you get your ass kicked," was her drawled reply as she came to stand in front of Moon, a hand held out. Moon took the proffered hand and allowed Mars to pull her to her feet.

Pointing a finger at the unconscious blond interloper, Moon asked, "You didn't kill him, did you?"

Mars' responsive stare told Moon that she had asked a question with an obvious answer. Mars always gave her that look when Moon was having a 'blonde moment.' "I just tranqued him. He should be out for three hours, give or take."

Moon nodded in comprehension. "That's good to hear." Moving deeper into the darkness, she examined her now dead target. At least, she was pretty sure he was dead. If he wasn't, he was doing a pretty good imitation of it. "I have no idea where that guy came from. He's a grizzly though."

"Right. Of course a black bear would die at the hands of a grizzly." Mars came to stand next to her. "You'd think between the two of us, you with your precognition and me being a psychic, we'd have seen this one coming."

Moon found herself laughing. It sent sharp spikes of pain through her stomach, making her dizzy with nausea. It was a definite; she must have at least bruised, if not broken something.

Mars frowned, concerned at how pale her blonde friend appeared. Removing the blonde's cracked night vision glasses, she tilted Moon's head upward in order to get a better view of her eyes. Moon's pupils were dilated and unfocused. "Hey, how many fingers am I holding?"

"What kind of stupid question is that?" Moon slurred. She had managed to ignore the throbbing in her head until now, but with the adrenaline leaving her body, all of the abuse she had suffered throughout the night were beginning to make themselves known. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to stand much longer. She was bleeding and her arm was broken. She could feel the trickle of cold liquid seeping into the back of her trench coat, staining the shirt underneath. At least she'd had the forethought of wearing black; blood was a bitch to wash out.

"Answer the question." Mars retorted, aggravated and concerned at the same time.

Moon squinted, staring at the raised fingers with an air of dazed contemplation. "Four."

Briefly glancing at the two, not four, fingers she held up, Mars frowned. So her first suspicion had been right; Moon could be suffering from a head injury. "Mercury, we need an ambulance. There's a dead body, Moon's target I believe, and Moon needs medical attention."

"Copy that." There was another pause, which Moon filled with protests of her good health, despite the fact that her body was demanding that she stop moving.

"Come on. Let me give you a hand." Mars wrapped an arm around Moon's waist, pulling her closer.

"It's okay," Moon waved a hand in protest, but found herself staggering when the support of Mars' body was gone. "I'm just a little bruised."

"How many times were you knocked into that wall?"

"A couple of times."

Mars sighed in disgust. "You never change."

"Nope," Moon gave her a big, cheerful smile, "and just so you know, you're buying me breakfast if Sapphire refuses to defend him."

"Damn loup-garou and his prejudice against other species."

"Sapphire isn't prejudiced; he just chooses to represent the loups-garous only."

"And that isn't prejudiced how?"

"You're still buying me breakfast."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

* * *

**AN:** w00t! That was a blast to write!

I like reading paranormal romances and werewolves are my fave type of shapeshifter. I've been dying to work on this story. The updates may be slow in coming but I'm always working on this fic.

Before the confusion starts, I just wanted to point out that I'll be using a lot of different terms to describe werewolves.

The whole race (bitten or born) is referred to as "loups-garous" and sometimes "lycanthrope." I'll use it interchangeably, so bear with me.

"Werewolves" are bitten (I think that one's obvious). Those born with a parent that's loup-garou are "loup-garou." Then there are the rare creatures called the lupi (what Endymion is) who are born Hunters (I'll go into this later). And then there are the Berserkers (who're just crazy Born loups-garous…but that's for later).

Aside from that, just wanted to say, beware of my footnotes of DOOM! You'll get sick of seeing them by the time this story's over.

_Last Edited Nov.20, 2009_


	2. Of the Unexpected

**Chapter Two: Of the Unexpected**

A man stood quietly. His tall, powerful, brooding silhouette was barely visible in a shadowy alcove that overlooked the proceedings below. Stony and immobile as a statue, he leaned against one of the marble columns, watching with a disinterested gaze as members from the ten local packs filed into the dome-like structure that served as their monthly meeting place.

None of the twenty loups-garous who made up the Council took their seats around the large oblong table and they were all quite ignorant of the distantly calculating gaze fixed upon them.

In all his two hundred years on Earth, Endymion was sure he'd never seen anything so nonsensical. For a precarious moment, his midnight blue eyes flashed with a bright golden hue then narrowed.

There was no love lost between Endymion and the members of the loup-garou Council, and he made no attempt to hide his intense dislike of them. After all, they were the same people who had ordered him to butcher a countless number of families, unsuspecting casualties in an interspecies war that had been going on for centuries. The Council believed in eradicating all potential dangers before they became a problem, even if it meant wiping out an entire pack.

He had no illusions about what he was. He knew what he was capable of doing if he ever gave in to his inner wolf. He'd disposed of more than a few Council members over his years as a Hunter. They kept forgetting that he was the most dangerous creature among them. Even as the Council's reluctant watchdog, he was more than willing to remind them of that fact. Understanding his place and duty would have nothing to do with the pleasure he'd experience in annihilating the Council.

Life, Endymion realized, would be so much simpler if he didn't have a pack he was responsible for. He could clearly picture the chaos that would be the end result of his loss of control. Getting rid of the Council all together would seriously set the packs back decades of progress and destroy the peace that had taken centuries to achieve. Endymion didn't want to be responsible for that.

Endymion was cursed with being the only pure blooded lupi within a thousand mile radius, which was why he'd been forced to take the position of the Council's bodyguard when he'd refused the position of Council member. Pack politics had never interested him, so he'd passed the position on to one of his pack's strongest betas, Sapphire, who seemed to be a natural.[1]

The fact that he was his pack's resident alpha hadn't helped matters either. While fellow pack members shunned and feared him, they were also in awe of him. He'd never understood their contradictory feelings toward him and had learned to ignore them from an early age. They were his family and the beast within protected what was his.

The only emotion involved was loyalty, and no matter how irrational his bond to them seemed at times, he always remembered that they were his responsibility. His duty was to keep them alive and safe. If it weren't for the fact that he'd sworn to protect his pack, he would have left a long time ago to join one of the lesser known packs of those who were permanently in wolf form.

Endymion could not imagine suffering through another Council meeting, but he knew without a doubt that if he didn't stay to oppose most of the Council's crazier ideas, more packs than just his own would suffer for his selfishness. God only knew what harebrained notions the Council might get into their heads if he wasn't there to stop most of them.

He couldn't resist the low growl that rumbled through his throat. Endymion gave the Council members one last burning glare before heading for the stairs. He contemplated going for a run as he made his way down the winding staircase that led to the chamber the Council used as their meeting place. Going for a short run would burn off the intensity of his emotions, and he'd be able to deal with being stuck in the same room with them for more than three hours.

He realized, running down the last set of stairs, that with the full moon still hanging in the sky, the incredible need to Change was eating away at his usual detachment. He was feeling uncomfortably claustrophobic and itched to be outdoors with the rest of his pack. Above all else, that was making him more irritable than normal. And when dealing with Council, he couldn't afford to be irritated. That way of thinking led to massacres. And he wouldn't hesitate to kill them all. Why did he put up with this torture? Why wasn't he out there, guiding and protecting his new pups? The answer came in the form of a blond haired youth: Helios.

His job as his pack's reigning alpha involved the task of not only presiding over the initiation of new pups but also in their training. For the past five days, he'd been organizing and supervising plans for the upcoming full moon. As his pack's alpha, it was his duty to supervise every pup's first Change. Spending the last few days making sure that every pup knew the rites of the Hunt and getting them relaxed about their first Change had drained him. Aside from hunting however, initiating new loups-garous into the pack was Endymion's favorite duty as pack leader. This time, he'd only been able to spend four out of the six days he usually spent with the new initiates waiting for the next moon phase.

A grin spread across his face and all thoughts of a run left him. Some of the initiates had been excited, buzzing with anticipation, but most had been frightened to death. A lot could go wrong for new pups when they first Changed. The madness of being overtaken by their inner wolf was something that they all feared. Having led them to the densely wooded area that bordered his pack's land, he'd been the first to Change. The others had soon followed, and Helios had been beautiful in wolf form, his true form. In a sea of black fur, his snow white coat had glittered like stardust in the moonlight. Watching his charge transform had been a magical event.

Most importantly, nothing had gone wrong. That was his main reason for not abandoning the Council's idle chitchat hour for a run. He had to inform them that Helios had shown no signs of going into Berserker mode and that none of the three bitten werewolves had shown signs of losing their minds to moon induced mania. He'd done his duty; he'd watched over the new members of his pack. Everything had gone according to plan.

The sooner he got this out of the way, the faster he'd be able to return to his other, more pressing duties. Without preamble, he opened the brass doors and prepared to face the loup-garou Council. His dominating presence signaled that the monthly meeting was about to commence.

* * *

After two days of required medical leave and a great deal of arguing with her boss, Serena Fairchild — alias Agent Moon— was allowed to return to work at MID.

It had taken exactly thirteen hours and thirty five minutes for every fractured and broken bone, every torn and bleeding piece of tissue, to repair itself and still she'd been ordered to take medical leave as if she were some invalid. Her boss, when she set her mind to it, was as vengeful and forbidding as any God. Serena knew this had served as her punishment for being unintentionally careless. If she made any more errors, she wouldn't be given any missions for the next few months and would be stuck at a desk doing paperwork. Setsuna Matthews—who, at one point in her career at MID had gone by the still much feared alias, Agent Hades—was spiteful that way.

From the outside, the building which housed one of DMCR's many field offices looked like every other nondescript government building on the block: bland. Concrete, steel and glass came together to create the building's dull outer exterior. Serena had never been sure if the other governmental buildings on the block were as heavily warded as theirs. She doubted it; MID was special.

Serena, for all her loitering outside the building, was already late for a meeting with her boss. She wasn't sure how the older woman would react. In the deep recesses of her mind, she knew it wouldn't go well. She probably _would_ end up with desk duty. If she claimed her injuries as the reason for her tardiness, she'd still end up with desk duty. The situation was quickly becoming a catch-22 and Serena had never liked those. Squaring her shoulders, she pushed through the revolving doors and stepped into the building's lobby.

She flashed a brilliant smile at the security guard as he meticulously checked her ID and electronically took her thumb print. She was then ordered to remove and deposit her five weapons and all metal objects on her person into a small cardboard box and walk through a metal detector.

The line behind her, which was surprisingly long for mid-afternoon, now sounded with groaning agents as she was ordered by the security guard, who just happened to be a gnome, to remove any and _all_ materials with metal-like properties from her person.

Gnomes were just evil like that.[2]

"You've got to be kidding me," Serena muttered as she began the trying task of searching herself.

"No ma'am," the guard replied, without even a twitch of his lips, his face blank, and his beady, black eyes dead.

"Well," she exclaimed in frustration, "this is stupid 'cause I can't _find_ it."

The gnome continued to stare at her impassively. His beady eyes stared out at her from a leathery-wrinkled face. If Serena hadn't seen this face almost daily for the last six years of her life, she would have been discomfited. "You should have thought about that this morning while getting dressed."

Serena glared. He stared her down until she went back to searching herself.

She heard the impatient shuffling of feet and the agitated movements of the uniformly dressed agents behind her. They were getting restless, and she knew from experience that she had better find the offending piece of metal before they became impatient enough to want to draw blood, _her_ blood to be exact.

The guard rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. "Take off your earrings," he all but sneered, looking down at her from his four-foot tall chair.

Bringing a hand to her left ear, Serena found the offending piece of metal. "Oh," she breathed, feeling her cheeks flush a bright pink in embarrassment.

He impatiently waved her through the metal detector again, muttering under his breath about crazy humans when the alarm didn't go off.

Serena sighed with relief, gladly taking back the box that contained her personal belongings. She quickly restored them to their rightful places and returned the box to the waiting security guard.

"See you later Charlie," Serena chirped before making a beeline for the bank of elevators, not waiting for a response. Her heels clicked a hurried tempo on the slate floor with every step.

The elevator bank was surprisingly empty. Usually, it was filled with agents dressed in black suits of both genders, multiple races and species. She reckoned that was what she liked most about being an agent at MID and largely a part of DMCR as well.

Serena was one of the few individuals lucky enough to enjoy her job. She _relished_ coming to work everyday. Working at MID was like working at a magical menagerie; there was always something – or someone – new around every corner. She had learned things and met people – some of an entirely different species – that she otherwise would never have encountered as a civilian. Yet, what she liked most about MID was that it consisted of both humans with "special talents" and magical beings. As much as every agent claimed they had come to MID to protect humankind from their supernatural brothers and sisters, they all knew it was a decision made out of pure selfishness, a desperate need to be amongst others like themselves.

Once identified by the retinal scan, Serena allowed herself to be fingerprinted again, placing her left hand in the fingerprint recognition mold on the wall. She felt a tingle of electricity shoot through her fingertips. Just as the elevator doors were about to close, Serena heard a voice screaming, "Hold the elevator!" Even before she saw the person who that voice belonged to, Serena was cursing the elevator doors for not closing fast enough.

'_Shit,'_ she thought, as a slender nymph joined her in the elevator ride to her unit's floor. _'Just what I needed to complete a week of hell— Anne.'_ Said nymph was Serena's coworker, someone Serena had the adverse pleasure of calling rival. Like all rivalries between the female sex, theirs involved a boy: Anne's current lover and Serena's former stalker. And like all rivalries, theirs had escalated to another level. She and Anne were tied for the position of being their unit's top sniper, followed closely by Amy.

She pressed the button for their floor and the elevator took off.

"Fairchild," the nymph addressed her coldly.

"Arbre," she replied just as smoothly. _Be civil,_ she told herself, _and maybe if you ignore her, she'll blend in with the wall and disappear. _

They spent a moment in silence, but as they passed the fifth floor, Anne glanced over at Serena, eyes glinting with spite. "Heard about your last mission," Anne stated in her sugary sweet voice. "It's too bad Burton wasn't there to help you out."

Serena's jaw clenched as she repressed a snide comment. This was the first time since she'd entered MID that she felt like a total failure. Just once she wished that her precognition— an ability that she now saw as completely useless, despite it being the only thing that kept her from losing her job— would be more precise. What was the use in seeing the future if it was only a momentary possibility?[3] She had felt that foreboding twitch of electricity that foretold bad things were about to happen; she just hadn't known what those bad things would be or how to prevent them from happening.

'_It's just Anne,'_ she thought, trying not to let the other's words affect her. _'And if she knows my buttons, then I know hers.'_ Still, the nymph had no right to bring Mina up. She was asking for it. Serena turned and graced her with an unaffected smile, "You know what they say about former assassins. They can't ever bring anything back alive." She feigned curiosity, "How's the DeMedici case going for ya?"

When she got only silence as a response, Serena continued as if she were having a pleasant conversation about the weather. "Last I heard he's still roaming the streets, hunting wood nymphs. They mustn't be that important if I can't remember their species name."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Anne clench a fist. Serena leaned into the steel wall behind her. She snapped her fingers as if she'd stumbled onto some long forgotten piece of information. "Oh, that's right! They're Hamadryads[4], aren't they?" Serena frowned in feigned sympathy, "It must hurt, knowing you can't catch the man murdering your own kind for sport."

"At least my Talent still works." Anne sneered, "You're getting too old for this job Fairchild."

"Hm, that's an interesting thing to say," Serena's voice was as pleasant as ever, "especially coming from you. If I remember correctly, we graduated at the same time from the Academy, didn't we?" She tapped her right temple as if befuddled, "Or maybe I'm just confusing the dates? You know me, getting so forgetful for my old age."

When the elevator door opened to the twenty-fifth floor, she got out, followed closely by Anne. "Do tell Alan I said hello," Serena purred, "I'm sure he'll be glad to hear from me."

The nymph's eyes narrowed to slits as Serena waved her a blithe goodbye. If only looks could kill.

Heading for Setsuna's office, Serena was momentarily floored by the vast expanse that was her work place. Big windows covered the surface of the wall just opposite the elevators. They flooded the office with sunlight. The floor of Serena's unit was mostly made up of about fifty symmetrical clusters of desks and cubicles occupied by people dressed in identical black suits working with computers, phones and papers. Scattered from the rest of the work area were smaller offices separated by glass partitions. Those not occupied by paperwork scurried urgently between desks, carrying stacks of folders and what Serena could only assume was more paperwork. Serena was glad she didn't work the open floor anymore.

After she and Mina had been promoted only three years before, they'd gotten their own office. Granted, it was in one of the more remote corners of the office and a little cramped for two unorganized people. It was worth it though for the big window that overlooked the teeming streets below, the more comfortable chairs, the filing cabinets, and the bookshelves. Serena had been proud then, proud of Mina and especially of herself. She hadn't dreamed she'd ever get this far.

Serena quickly walked past cubicles and desks on her way to Setsuna's office. Keeping her boss waiting when she was supposed to have been sitting in front of her twenty minutes ago was a very bad idea. Setsuna was known for her cruel and unusual punishments.

Knocking lightly before entering, she stepped into Setsuna's office.

* * *

It was another perfect spring day in the city of Seattle. The sun was shining, the flowers were blooming, the sky was a clear blue, and a soft breeze sung of the coming summer, which seemed to put everyone in a good mood. That is, except for Raye Hino, who was at the moment, rather nettled. Serena was late again, and considering what they'd be doing in fifteen minutes, Raye felt considerably agitated. She was going to kill Serena after the blond grizzly was finally arraigned. The DA's shapeshifting prosecutor had notified their office of the arraignment, and Raye had told her temporary partner, yet the blonde was a no show.

Standing outside of Seattle's municipal courthouse, Raye was a sight to behold in all her fiery glory. She paced restlessly in front of the courthouse steps, her amethyst eyes narrowing into slits as thoughts of suitable punishments darted through her mind. She hated to be kept waiting.

Raye knew that ever since Serena's partner's disappearing act a few months prior, Serena had been barely functioning. She and Mina had been partners since their training days. And had even known each other before MID. The psychic and the Ghostwalker had been a formidable team, but now Mina was gone. Raye sighed in annoyance. She had a feeling that their boss knew exactly where and why Mina was hiding out. The woman just hadn't felt the need to share it with the rest of their unit.

Pivoting once again to pace in the opposite direction, Raye collided with a body. A sensation like that of the wind being knocked from her lungs rushed over her and she knew that a vision was inevitable. The last thing she saw before she lost sight of reality was the man's back and a flash of wheat blond hair. Her eyes unseeing, Raye's hands clamped down on the first thing she came in contact with, the courthouse handrail. Her fingers curled around the metal bar as her pupils narrowed and expanded, and the vision took her.

_She assessed the room she was standing in. It was an eerily quiet kitchen. Through a set of bay windows, a full moon hung in the night sky. The room was illuminated by the moonlight, casting everything it touched in a silver glow. She walked past a kitchen table, which had a dinner laid out for two. Two candlesticks burned brightly, wax forming at their bases. Reaching a window over the kitchen sink, she pulled its curtains aside and peered outside. The view looked out over a suburban street; she noted that the house was on the corner of Brattle and Bedford._

_The stillness of the kitchen was shattered when a muffled noise sounded further back into the house. She left the kitchen, went through the living room, and found herself staring at a broad back. There were legs and a limp arm hanging off the silhouetted form. She instinctively reached for her gun, her mind screaming that this man was a killer. Her bullets fired harmlessly through the apparition into the wall._

_He moved further into the shadows and she followed, not wanting to lose sight of him. It was important that she follow his movement. He stepped into a darkened bedroom, still carrying his burden. The room was moderately sized and was illuminated, like the kitchen, by moonlight. She still couldn't get a good look at him, no matter how hard she tried. Every step closer she took, the shadows of the bedroom seemed to twine tighter around him, sheltering him from her Sight._

_He seemed to debate with himself before moving further into the bedroom. The moment he did, she took note of his appearance. His form was silhouetted by moonlight and shadows, and his gleaming hair was the first thing she noticed: from where she was standing it could be of any color. He was above average height and his muscled body well-sculpted. But aside from that, she could glean nothing else. His burden turned out to be the body of a woman. _

_Raye watched as he neatly arranged said body on the clean, white bed sheets. He covered the corpse with another set of clean, white linen. The shadowed man stared at the body that he had arranged on the bed and then whispered something into the woman's ear. He then left the room without a backward glance, closing the door with a gloved hand. Raye tried to follow, only to find she was being pulled back into reality. _

Coming out of the vision, Raye felt weightless at first, then her knees shook and reality returned, grounding her. She took stock of the damage. She was still gripping the railing; her knuckles had turned white from the force of her grip. She couldn't let go, not now as the dizziness overtook her and her knees turned to jelly. Taking a deep, steadying breath, Raye unclenched a hand and rummaged through her bag with trembling hands, trying to find an energy bar. She found a granola bar, tore open the wrapper with shaky fingers, and took a huge bite.

Raye was the type of psychic who traveled with a portable evidence kit, a bottle of sugared water, and a dozen energy bars on her person at all times. In her line of work, she never knew when she'd be hit by a vision and stumble onto a case. Most of the time, she had to sift through all the mundane visions that hit her: be it through dreams or just a brush of a hand.

Unlike most psychics, trained or untrained, she could control the frequency of her predictions, and she could even force a vision if need be. The content, however, she had no control over. Unexpected visions were the worst. Not only was she unable to control the content, but she never knew when they would hit. At least, she told herself, she couldn't see ghosts. From the way Mina had constantly complained about them stalking her, she was just glad that wasn't her gift.

Finishing the granola bar, she drank a gulp of sugar water, feeling greatly restored. Now it was time for her to analyze the premonition. She was sure she was being given directions to find a body.

"Great," she scrubbed both hands over her face, "Just fan-fucking-tastic." Of course she'd find a body. She cursed fluently. The man—Raye was positive it had been a man, a tall _blond_ man—hadn't even apologized for bumping into her, and now she had a body to find and a suspect to identify.

First, she'd have to deal with this were-bear business and then call Setsuna to tell her of this new development. The last thing MID needed was the obviously homicidal grizzly running loose in the city.

* * *

**AN:** yay! The second chapter! So how do you guys like Endy? I tried, but male POV isn't my thing. It always feels awkward to me. The MID office is loosely based on the _Without a Trace _office (or what I _think_ it looks like). I was watching the show and all that sunlight and glass windows made me think of Serena even though I put her office in some dark corner. I'm weird, so sue me.

All right, so here's a quick French lesson. Loup-garou is the French word for werewolf. The plural is loup-garous or loups-garous. The fake plural spelling you might have seen is loups-garoux (from _Blood and Chocolate_). I won't be using it.

[1] For those of you who don't know, wolf packs run in hierarchy. Alpha males are usually the strongest in the pack. If the alpha isn't very well respected by the pack (physical strength doesn't always equal respect), they'll constantly be challenged by other males. Alphas are usually followed by betas and lastly there are the omegas.

[2]the thing about gnomes, I read somewhere that gnomes have elemental properties (earth) and live underground and since a lot of metals are _in_ the ground…ta da! Gnomes can tell when there's metal nearby or on someone. I may be totally wrong about this, but arg!

[3]Prescience is a subset of precognition. While most psychics can see into the past and future, with prescience it's like you glimpse the future in different scenarios and if the person changes their mind, the future can change. So there's never really a _set in stone_ future. It's kinda like what Alice in _Twilight_ does. And wiki (en. wikipedia. org /wiki/Precognition) told me enough to have me come up with this.

[4] okay so if you aren't familiar with wood nymphs and their names: all wood nymphs are called dryads (trees). So the type of dryad that Anne is hamadryad (oak trees and other types). So they're pretty common. Amy is half Naiad (a fresh water nymph), so she isn't as slutty as other naiads. And let's face it, nymphs are very promiscuous creatures. Plus I didn't want to call her a vila/veela because it's too Harry Potter-ish for me and I'm not such a big fan of Slavic myths so I'm keeping it between the Greeks, Norse and the Romans when it comes to mythology.

If you spot any errors, please tell me. I tend to miss the most glaring of errors.

_Last Edited Nov.20, 2009_


	3. Of Disappearing Blood Trails

**AN:** Didn't really like this chapter, but I'm pretty tired of making revisions to it. Maybe in a month or so, I'll realize what's wrong with itXD

* * *

**Chapter Three: Of Disappearing Blood Trails **

Setsuna Matthews's office was remarkable in how ordinary it seemed. Serena often mused on how its banality was so unlike her mysterious boss, who was, for all intent and purposes an omnipotent being. There were numerous bookshelves brimming with books, an imposing mahogany desk (which Setsuna lorded over with an efficiency that scared all defiant agents under her charge into compliancy), two file cabinets (which during her academy days, Serena had been unlucky in having to organize as punishment), a potted plant, and a black leather chair (which always made Serena shudder just by _looking_ at it).

"Have a seat," Setsuna motioned Serena to said chair.

Serena handed her the mission report and all the paperwork she'd spent her two days off filling out. Serena had never liked the paperwork that came after a case, especially when a dead body was involved. Taking a seat, she maintained a prudent silence as Setsuna skimmed through it, her eyes focusing instead on a spot just above the older woman's shoulder.

In the presence of her boss, Serena was always on edge. Psychic energy came off the woman in waves and the fact that no one in their division or unit knew exactly 'what the woman was,' never sat well with her.

Serena, who usually dreaded after mission debriefings, had found herself on the receiving end of one of Setsuna's lectures on recklessness and its inevitable consequences more than once. Lately, it had become a regular occurrence and that made Serena second-guess her current position in the unit.

Serena was startled out of her thoughts when Setsuna began to speak. "I understand that Mars has not fully briefed you on the current situation?" Serena only nodded in response. "I've given the gun racketeering case over to Jupiter and Poseidon[1] while you were in recovery."

Serena stared at her in befuddlement. _'What?'_ she thought with a barely concealed frown. _'Why wasn't I informed?' _

Setsuna continued, ignoring signs of the blonde's confusion and rising anger. "The grizzly is from another tribe. We were only able to get vague answers about his connection with the black bears. Apparently, the black bears were in his tribe's territory. He wanted to take them out. The two were-bears in our custody confirmed that the rest of the tribe has moved from their last known location."

Serena held back a scowl. She should have been there for the interrogation. She'd spent two months watching these guys; she knew how they operated. She should be the one chasing the rest of the tribe down not Lita and Ken. This was _her_ case.

As if she were reading Serena's thoughts, Setsuna added, "Poseidon is one of our best trackers. They'll catch up to them in no time."

Serena's left eye twitched in annoyance. It took all of her self-control not to jump from her seat and confront her indifferent boss. Setsuna would only use an outburst as leverage to keep her off the field or worse yet, to send her back home to recuperate. She held her tongue. She knew what would come next— desk duty.

"Stop fidgeting." Startled, Serena stopped tapping the foot she hadn't known was moving. She looked up only to find herself being scrutinized by garnet eyes she was sure could pierce through any demon's disguise. The look Setsuna sent her told her clearly what she thought about Serena's return to the job so soon after being released from the hospital. Serena could feel a lecture coming on.

"I'm surprised you're even able to walk," she started off matter-of-factly. "From the medical report faxed to me, your internal injuries still require more time to heal."

Serena shifted under her gaze uncomfortably. All her anger seemed to dissipate when confronted with Setsuna's all-knowing stare. She felt like a child who'd just been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. "You know me," she tried to laugh. It came out nervous and strained. "I'm a fast healer."

"Are you certain of your health?" Setsuna asked in gentle reproof.

"Yes, nothing hurts. Everything that broke was—" the rest of her sentence died as Setsuna's office phone started ringing. Serena mentally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Setsuna Matthews speaking."

On the other end of the line, a breathless Raye replied, "We've got a situation. I've just gotten a premonition of a murder."

Setsuna looked at Serena and then asked, "How far away from the location are you?"

"Pretty far. From what I've gathered, it's in the nicer part of the city. I'm thinking outside Olympia. Have Mercury do a check on some street names for me."

"All right," Setsuna conceded. "You're pretty sure that it's in Washington State?"

Indignant, Raye tartly replied, "I was at the Seattle courthouse when I got the vision, so I'm guessing the crime was committed here."

"It could be elsewhere."

"Stop wasting time," Raye hissed angrily. "Have Mercury run Brattle and Bedford Streets for me. See if she gets any hits. Have her call me."

"You're sure this hasn't already been reported? That the murderer hasn't already been caught? You were at the courthouse, correct? It could be an old crime."

Raye felt insulted that her boss thought so little of her gift. Sometimes her visions felt like more of a curse than a blessing, but she was _always_ right. "I can tell the past from the present and future Hades, this one's fresh."

Satisfied, Setsuna put Raye on hold while she dialed Amy's extension. The blue haired water sprite answered immediately. "Amy Winters."

Setsuna wasted no time with unnecessary chitchat. "Amy, find out if Bedford and Brattle Streets intersect anywhere outside of Olympia or Seattle. Call Raye when you get something."

"I'm on it," replied Amy, who was used to her boss's abrupt phone calls.

"Mercury's working on it." Setsuna informed Raye not a few moments later.

"Good," the raven haired psychic replied.

"How did you find this?"

"I bumped into a man outside the courthouse. I didn't get a good look at his face. He was blond though, above average height. He may be around 5'9. Our suspect probably resembles the man I bumped into." Setsuna scribbled down the information on the back of a sheet of paper. She'd have the tech team check the cameras surrounding the courthouse. It was very likely that the man wasn't connected to the crime, but she was sure they'd find their blond. She never did like loose ends in investigations. "The vision impaired me." Raye grudgingly admitted. "I couldn't get out of it on time."

"It's not your fault. Every gift has its drawbacks and this is yours."

"I know that."

"Good. How was the arraignment?"

"Bail was denied," Setsuna could hear the smirk in Raye's voice. "He was deemed a flight-risk."

"Glad to hear it. Mercury will be calling you shortly." That said, she hung up and turned her eyes back on Serena, who was a little mystified as to what was going on. Had Raye stumbled onto a crime?

Setsuna's lips pursed into a thin line as her garnet eyes narrowed. For a long moment, she considered the blonde sitting in front of her.

Serena shifted under Setsuna's scrutiny. _'Here it comes,' _she thought with resignation, _'I'm going to be sitting behind a desk for the rest of my life.'_

"How do you feel about taking a trip to Olympia?"

Serena didn't even have to think about it. Without a hint of hesitation she replied, "Sure, why not?" Anything was better than being stuck behind a desk for the next month or so. And Raye's visions always panned out.

Already turning back to her paperwork, Setsuna waved toward the door. "What are you still doing here?" Serena resisted the urge to shrink into her seat.

"Get directions from Amy and meet Raye at the scene. She can brief you when you get there. Now get out of here before I change my mind and nail you to a desk like you deserve."

Unwilling to tempt her fate further, Serena bolted for the door.

Unlike Setsuna's office, Amy's was cluttered with mountains of well-organized paperwork. When Serena walked in, the water nymph was chattering into the mouthpiece of her headset, her mass of shoulder-length blue hair in a tight bun that bobbed up and down as her fingers rapidly moved across the keyboard of her office computer.

Amy was the best at what she did. Considering what she could do with a computer, well, Serena had always tried not to get on her bad side. Annoying her while she was busy working was the best way to do that. She knew that with a few keystrokes Amy could wipe out all traces of her existence, and that was even scarier than the fact that the water sprite liked to date incubi[1].

Serena, who usually knocked to draw her unit's resident techie's attention due to her fear of Amy's wrath when interrupted while busy working, decided to forgo the formality. It was rare to catch the naiad unawares.

"How's the boyfriend, Merc?" At her greeting, Amy, who hadn't heard the blonde come in, stopped typing, her blue eyes widening a bit as she looked up in surprise. Serena watched in fascination as a blush rapidly crept from the other's neck to her cheeks and ears. It tainted the water sprite's creamy complexion a crimson red.

Amy refused to give into the urge to run and hide. And here she'd thought her coworkers had gotten over the novelty of her romantic life. She couldn't see what was so fascinating about it. So what if Zachary was an incubus? Though in her own way, she'd expressed her disapproval at Amy dating a former mark, only Setsuna had seemed unfazed by current development in Amy's personal life.

Amy mumbled, "Zach's fine." Her eyes returned to the computer screen. She waved Serena in, and the blonde perched herself on the edge of Amy's desk after moving a pile of folders out of the way.

"I'm sure he is." Serena answered slyly.

The blush could not be staved off and Amy, after clearing her throat asked, "What can I do for you, Serena?"

"I need to know whether or not Bedford and Brattle intersect anywhere outside of Olympia or Seattle."

"The intersection is actually outside of Olympia. Are you going to meet Raye?"

Serena beamed her colleague a proud smile, "Yup. Boss-lady says so."

"Good," Amy rummaged through the piles of paper on her desk and handed Serena one. "Here's a printout of the directions. It's about a half-hour drive from here. If you get stuck, call me." Serena nodded in reply.

"Use your GPS system." Amy reminded her as she hopped off the sprite's desk. It was a universal fact that Serena would get lost anywhere you sent her, no matter how precise the directions were. She always did, unless someone reminded her that the car she drove had a GPS navigation system in it.

Serena laughed sheepishly, "I always forget about that."

"Stop by a convenience store and buy some energy bars. You might need them." Amy gave her a once over and added, "Get enough for Raye, too."

Serena was halfway down the hall when she decided to go back and tease Amy some more, "Oh and don't forget to give Zach my love."

Amy's face was red again and Serena had a self-satisfied smile by the time she decided to seek out her next victim; Andrew, her unit's weapons expert. The poor guy would have no idea what hit him.

The few agents who encountered Serena on her way to Andrew's office, scurried away when they caught a glimpse of the precog's mischievous grin. They didn't know what she was planning or who her latest victim was, but they all knew one thing; they didn't want it to be them.

Serena was humming a toneless tune— something she'd heard on the radio on her way to work, when she finally reached her destination.

Andrew's office was set apart from all the other offices. His and Amy's offices were also the only ones with labs connected to them. Serena was sure it had something to do with the fact that Andrew's lab housed more than a few weapons capable of killing both humans and supernatural beings. She'd never spotted one, but she was positive that his office was booby trapped.

The task of getting into his small, cramped, gloomy office, which required that she be fingerprinted and undergo another retinal scan, gave Serena the impression of walking into a maximum security prison. Serena's eyes were assaulted by the racks full of unmarked boxes. They were everywhere she looked.

She was just starting to wonder where Andrew was hiding in the cardboard jungle when she was unexpectedly pulled into a bear hug. Being a shapeshifter of the loup-garou variety, Andrew was unnaturally strong. Serena had suffered more than a few bruises from one of the blond shifter's worried hugs.

After a final squeeze, he let her go and held her at arm's length. He bestowed her with an anxious, searching look, "You're fine, right?"

Andrew wore a custom tailored-suit and a worried scowl. He looked like one of those stereotypical FBI agents on TV. Serena considered telling him this, but found his concern for her health too cute for words. She resisted the impulse to snuggle into him. Instead, she bestowed on him with a beatific smile. "Perfectly fine."

Andrew's brows remained furrowed in concern as he looked her over. "With you running around getting yourself hurt like this, Setsuna might just make you take a long vacation."

Serena shrugged herself out of his grip and blithely answered, "I don't think she will. I'm not that hurt. Like I said, it was mainly bruises."

"We're just worried about you."

As if she didn't know that. Of the six psychics in their unit, Serena was not only the shortest, she was also the smallest. She got tossed around a lot when it came to cases dealing with shapeshifters. It was starting to become an occupational hazard. When she and Mina had been a team, they always dealt with angry spirits, vampyres, and an occasional shapeshifter or two, but nothing that landed Serena in the hospital. They'd always had each other's backs and getting hurt hadn't been an issue. Serena just had to get used to protecting it herself.

As if reading her mind, Andrew asked, "Have you heard from Mina?" She flinched and he immediately began apologizing. "It's just...I thought she'd contact you, you were so close."

"In this case, closeness is meaningless," she answered bitterly. Serena hated being reminded of the fact that Mina wasn't around, but the members of her unit seemed to think that if they each broached the subject of her missing partner one at a time, she'd open up about it. The possibility of this happening was not likely.

"So," he started, unsure of how to continue. Mina was a sore subject for the both of them. He was sorry to have brought her disappearance up.

Serena cleared her throat and watched as he moved to sit behind his desk. She wasn't sure what to say to him, but she knew why she was there. Her eyebrows then furrowed into a thoughtful frown, even as a mischievous twinkle made her eyes sparkle. Messing with Andrew always made her feel better. "Have you seen Raye? Did she leave without me? I swore I saw her before I went to see Setsuna."

"You probably did," he frowned, thinking back to the last time he'd seen the psychic, "She came by to pick up a few things from me about an hour ago."

"So?"

"She left without you." He answered in a voice that said he was stating something obvious.

Serena inwardly grinned. She feigned indignation. "Damn it, I don't wanna go to Olympia alone. And her car's so much nicer than mine. Why can't she ever _wait_ for me?"

"Raye always waits for others, you're just always late."

"You like her more than me, huh? That's why you're picking her over me." Serena added a pout just for good measure. She always liked to fluster the blond loup-garou. He never seemed to learn.

Her scheme of embarrassing him fell short, though he did look extremely discomfited. He surveyed her critically for a long moment, "You're more of my type."

"I am, am I?" she leaned flirtatiously against his desk, the semi-automatic at her waist flashing.

She was a little too close. When he inhaled, his senses were overpowered by her unique scent of sunshine and posies. He cleared his throat and fidgeted. "Don't play games, Sere."

Pouting a moue of displeasure, she hopped off his desk, "You're no fun."

A little flushed, he replied, "You're a tease."

"Sticks and stones, Drew. Sticks and stones." She absentmindedly ran her hands down her suit jacket, smoothing out invisible wrinkles. "This was fun and all, but I still have to go meet up with Raye."

"You knew she wasn't here, didn't you," he accused her reproachfully with a rueful glint in his eyes.

"Of course," she replied flippantly as her lips quirked into an impish grin. Quickly sobering she added, "I'm here to pick up a few things from you."

* * *

The victim's house was located ten miles outside of Olympia. For a young woman— Raye was positive that she was young— she'd sure lived in a nice neighborhood. It was a sublime picture of suburbia. Since there was no sign of forced entry, Raye assumed that the victim either knew her killer or he'd let himself into the house some other way. From her premonition, Raye knew there was a high probability that it was the former.

She was sure one of the nosey neighbors would have noticed if something had been off. One of the victim's neighbors was currently watering the lawn across the street and eyeing Raye suspiciously as she unlocked the door with one of the gadgets Andrew had given her. Really, who needed a search warrant when you had MID on your side? She opened the front door and stepped inside.

One of the annoying things about Raye was how often she was right. Raye hated it when she was right. She hadn't even gone past the living room when she was assaulted by it: the trace of Fear that still lingered heavily in the air. The victim had still been alive before the kill and she'd been terrified.

Her fingertips lightly grazed one of the walls opposite the entertainment system. It sent a shock through her system.

_The living room's white wall was splattered with blood. Droplets of blood colored the framed portraits of a white Maine Coon cat with brilliant green eyes and its owner. There were many pictures with a young woman holding the cat, of the cat in various states of repose, and of what Raye assumed was the victim's family members and friends. The blood from the wall leaked onto the floor below, making a mess of the expensive-looking beige carpet. And, Raye thought irrelevantly, the next owner was never going to get the stains out of that nice oak floor._

Reality returned and there was no sign of all that blood. Their suspect, Raye was starting to believe, had wiped the place clean. But there was still evidence that he'd been there. The repugnant smell of chemicals was proof enough. The killer must have mixed some cocktail to get rid of all that blood. Raye could still smell the strong stench of ammonia and other concentrated cleaning chemicals. It made her want to gag.

In the kitchen, the feeling of fear and confusion intensified three-fold, nearly knocking Raye off her feet. She should have expected this; the killer had made his intentions known in the kitchen.

The kitchen looked exactly like it had in her premonition, except instead of moonlight, the room was bathed in sunlight. Under any normal circumstances, she was sure that the kitchen, with its combination of cherry cabinets, dark granite counter tops, warm caramel paint and wood flooring would have made the space feel warm and cozy, but the intensity of the victim's fear was not unlike a choking blanket. There were still remnants of a romantic dinner on the kitchen table. The two candlesticks were now stubs of melted wax, the untouched dinner-for-two still laid out. The food was spoiled now; Raye was sure.

Whenever she got the chance to go over a fresh crime scene, Raye liked to do it alone and undisturbed. She easily got bombarded by random visions when there were too many people in a crowded space. By the time the forensics' team from MID came to process a crime scene, Raye usually wasn't entirely functional and needed fresh air to get her mind cleared. But she knew where the body was. She would refrain from touching it until backup showed up. It had been risky enough coming here alone; tampering with evidence was something MID frowned upon.

She would leave the bedroom alone, but there was plenty to do before then. Raye set about processing the living room.

It felt like hours later when the distant wail of a siren sliced through her concentration. MID never came with sirens. She moved to take cover behind the sofa. She counted to twenty before the front door creaked open. In one fluid move, she stood and whipped out the Beretta located at her waist and switched off the safety.

Her eyes were assaulted by a tall, blond, broad-shouldered Adonis in a navy blue suit. The late afternoon sun haloed his golden locks and made him glow. Raye would have thought he was angelic except for the fact that he too, held a gun leveled at her heart.

'_This could end badly,'_ she thought, eyeing his gun impassively. She could either shoot first and ask questions later or he could make the decision for her. Either way, someone was going to get shot. The seconds slowly crept by with neither lowering their weapons. Raye shifted her gun to one hand and watched a muscle tick in his hardened jaw.

Clicking the safety on, he lowered his gun and stepped out of the sun's rays. "Detective Jared Knight, Olympia Police Department." He stated, his voice floating over Raye like a silky caress. The voice was masculine, his face roguishly handsome to match.

"Oh, a local," she all but sneered, before slowly taking her shield from a side pocket of her black pantsuit and holding it out. "Agent Mars, MID."

His eyes were focused on the gun she still held in her hand. After a moment of internal debate, he holstered his weapon.

After a moment of hesitation, she followed his example and holstered her gun as well. It was then Raye realized she hadn't done a very good job at hiding the fact that she was working on the house. One of the nosey suburbanites must have called OPD. She gave the blond a withering glare. She really couldn't deal with the locals right now. And where was her backup anyway? She'd been at the house for almost an hour now.

He moved further into the living room, blocking her view of the outside world. Now that he was standing in front of her, Raye could see that his eyes were an electric blue. As they shook hands, his larger, warmer one engulfing her smaller one, a burst of electricity shot through her arm.

She was paralyzed with the sense of recognition. She _knew_ him. Some slumbering part of her unconsciousness reached out as if to touch him, to make sure that he was _real_ and not a half imagined delusion. Shocked amethyst eyes met his unguarded blue ones. And for a moment, they seemed to have an innate understanding of each other. That was, until Raye yanked her hand from his handshake.

She averted her eyes and tried to ignore the vision, not sure, if it had just been her imagination or if it had actually _been_ a premonition. She shook the after effects off. Being disturbed seemed quite the understatement. She was sure she'd never met Jared Knight until a few moments ago. How could she _know_ him?

"What are you doing in this house?" he asked after surveying the living room and seeing her open portable evidence kit.

She met his eyes once again and nothing happened. _Idiot_. What exactly had she been expecting to happen? "What does it look like I'm doing, genius?" she snapped in irritation.

He rocked back on his heels, brows lifted. "Processing a crime scene for a crime that isn't under your jurisdiction?"

"Last time I checked, murder by magical means is a federal offense," she stated scathingly. "Our victim was killed by a magical being, which makes this a crime by magical means. I'd suggest you leave before I need to place a few phone calls. Am I understood?"

He smiled at her fury in poorly hidden amusement. There was something about her dark eyes filled with an expression that was both irritated and meant to command respect that he found quite fascinating. Raye rewarded him with a quelling stare.

Not in the least bit troubled by her glare, Jared grinned guilelessly at her. "Not according to your boss," he responded with the same air of negligence that reminded Raye of the other blonde in her life. "The local crime lab's processing this crime scene. OPD was given directions to this crime scene through MID. So technically, this is our crime scene."

Raye's eyes narrowed in displeasure. She couldn't afford to be anything less than professional when dealing with the locals. But standing this close to him was getting on her last nerves.

"The local police department has more information on this killing and others like it." He tried not to cower under the increasing hostility in her gaze. It wasn't everyday someone tried to kill him with a stare.

With the way he was volunteering information, Raye was starting to think Setsuna had already worked him over. The woman had an uncanny way of dragging information out of any unwilling source. "If OPD has information, why hasn't it been turned over to MID?"

"It hadn't occurred to us until recently that these crimes were connected."

"And now you think they are?"

"Now I _know_ they are." After a long pause he finally ventured to add, "The local police department is willing to cooperate with MID on this case, and that's only because your boss has directed us toward this latest addition to a crime we've been investigating."

He was saying more, but Raye tuned him out, her eyes instead focusing on his moving lips. Raye knew she'd been outmaneuvered the minute he'd mentioned Setsuna's name. Peeking over his shoulder, she saw parked squad cars and a flurry of police activity. She could already feel a headache coming on. She _hated_ dealing with the locals.

Smoothing her features into a mask of neutrality she told the blond detective, "I have a call to make." She may have been forced to give him access to _her_ crime scene, but she'd be damned if she'd say it out loud.

Walking down the front steps, she pulled out her cell phone. Setsuna had better have had a good reason for handing her crime scene to these local punks, most especially to that infuriating jerk, Jared Knight.

* * *

Serena got out of her black SUV and made her way toward what could only be the crime scene. The flashing blue lights of the squad cars made it fairly easy to find. Not long after leaving Andrew's office, she'd gotten an angry call from her fellow psychic to "Get here. _Now_."

Having been stuck in traffic, the raven haired psychic's agitated words had made Serena rush, nearly causing more than a few accidents. She'd assumed Raye had apprehended the suspect and the last thing she wanted was her temporary partner alone with backup thirty minutes away. She'd permitted herself a sigh of relief when a call from Setsuna had proven otherwise.

But out of all the scenarios that flashed through her mind, she hadn't expected _this_. There were patrol cars and news vans parked around where Brattle and Bedford Street intersected. They lined the streets, blocking off access to the residential area. She had to flash her badge in order to get through the melee of curious onlookers and camera crews. The police were doing their best to hold them back, but the reporters were still broadcasting, camped out on the street corners, waiting for juicy details on the crime and making some up to pass along to their audiences at home. Serena knew they needed to neutralize the situation before the locals started to get antsy or one of the reporters managed to get anywhere near the crime scene. The last thing they needed was for this to be blown out of proportion.

'_There's nothing like the smell of death to draw in a crowd,'_ she thought with a hint of disgust. As an agent, she knew that spilled blood drew a crowd faster than spilled sugar drew flies. These suburbanites had probably only seen crime scenes on TV and were probably enjoying their very first murder investigation.

She smiled slightly if not a little cynically. MID's unofficial policy was to assume nothing and to always think outside the box. And since she hadn't been informed of the nature of the crime, Serena had to assume it could be anything. Even the most blatantly obvious cause of death could turn out to have been caused by something entirely different. Magic was strange. It tended to mess with everything in its path, screwing up lab results. You'd think with all the supernatural beings running around, someone, somewhere would have found a way to stop magic from interfering with the evidence.

As she ducked under the yellow crime scene tape which taped off the perimeter of the two-story house, Serena had to flash her badge at the officers in order to get into the house.

Serena wondered how Raye was fairing. Her unasked question was answered when she rounded the corner in her search for the bedroom. The detective in charge must be the man with Raye, Serena inferred. They were arguing. Their body language said it all.

Though Raye wasn't blowing up like she was prone to do when infuriated, Serena knew that the blond man and her partner were currently in a heated battle of words. It involved Raye hissing orders and him nodding dispassionately at her. Serena wasn't sure she wanted to know what was going on, but knew she needed to get to them before Raye decided to do some real damage to him, like putting a bullet through his skull.

"Where's the body?" she asked the duo when she finally reached them.

"In there." Raye pointed behind her, "We're waiting for the photographer to finish up."

The photographer was the first one in. That meant none of the forensics' team had touched the body yet. "Right." Serena tried not to show how anxious she was to see the body. MID always got the body first, unlike the local police department, who usually had to wait until the coroner had a chance to examine their victim's remains.

"Detective Jared Knight," the blond was saying, flashing Serena a charismatic smile.

"Serena Fairchild." She stated, holding out a hand to be shaken. Her hand tingled from where it touched his. That formality over with, Serena asked the pair, "What'd I miss?"

"Nothing much," Raye stated, she then muttered after a quick glance toward the detective, "Other than the fact that this is a _fifth_ murder, not the first."

Serena raised an eyebrow, waiting for either the detective or her partner to explain. When neither said a word, Serena ventured to ask, "So we're dealing with a possible serial killer?"

"It appears that way."

"And OPD didn't see fit to inform MID," Raye muttered venomously.

The detective couldn't resist baiting her. With a sardonic smile, he replied, "I'm sure with all the psychics at MID, _someone_ would have gotten a hit sooner or later."

"Someone did," Raye replied icily, not liking his tone at all. He was just a lowly detective, how dare he mock the psychics who risked their lives everyday to protect humanity?

Not liking the mounting tension between the two at all, Serena asked, "What about witnesses?"

"We're in the process of interviewing them," the detective replied cryptically.

Serena's brows creased in confusion, "What's the hold up?"

"Apparently," Raye started, both hands planted on her hips, "Detective Knight doesn't believe we need a telepath to interview the witnesses."

"It won't be necessary," the blond detective replied, "Like all the previous victims, no one will know anything."

_Not if the killer didn't want them to_, Serena was tempted to say, but didn't. She was sure Raye had already given the Detective an unpleasant view of MID agents. Coming off as a pompous know-it-all would surely reinforce that first impression. The last thing she wanted to do was to alienate a possible source of information.

"There won't be any hairs and even though every surface is being dusted for prints, we won't find any. Our guy hasn't messed up yet. He's killed four women already and he's left nothing behind." The guy sounded frustrated and looking at him from the corner of her eye, Serena saw that he looked it too. "We've even processed the previous victims' bodies for prints and the ones we do find all belong to our victims."

"That's because he wears gloves."

Fascinated, the detective quirked an eyebrow at her. "And you know this how?"

"Premonition."

Serena tuned out the rest of their conversation. She'd get all the details tonight or tomorrow, depending on how long it took to process the entire house. But four victims already? Why hadn't MID been notified of this? Wasn't there a division responsible for keeping something like this from happening? Serena couldn't remember the last confirmed case of a supernatural killing spree, but it didn't take a precog to picture tomorrow's headlines. Both the local police and MID were going to burn for this.

It wasn't long before she noticed that the photographer was done taking pictures of the crime scene. She tapped Raye on the shoulder and motioned to the bedroom behind them. "Bedroom's ready."

Donning on a pair of booties, Serena watched with open disgust as Raye stepped into the bedroom after only snapping on a pair of latex gloves. Once Serena's shoes were covered and her fingers incased in latex, she approached the bedroom. It was disturbingly quiet. Serena found herself at the receiving end of what she liked to call "bad psychic energy." It made her skin crawl and left her feeling cold. There was something not right about the whole room.

She shook off the feeling. Raye was already examining the body. The stench of decaying flesh and the coppery scent of dried blood hit her as she approached the corpse. She'd been too busy fighting off the urge to run to have noticed the smell.

"How fresh is she, do you think?"

Serena liked to think after all these years on the job, she'd seen it all and couldn't be fazed by anything. But this crime scene, it was just _off_, not only did it send her psychic senses a-tingling, but there was something off about the corpse in general. With her eyes closed and her face in a state of repose, one could possibly have thought that the woman on the bed was only sleeping. She didn't look as if someone had ripped her throat out and eviscerated her.

"Give or take a day or two." Raye seemed unruffled by both the stench and state of their victim's decaying body. Her brows were furrowed in concentration as she focused all of her attention on the corpse before her.

Serena knew that most murders committed were crimes of passion, and from the carnage, she could tell that this was definitely a crime of passion. You'd have to be really pissed at someone to do this much damage.

Serena started doing her own scouting. With all this mess, you'd expect bloody footprints, or at least a trail of—

"These sheets are fresh." Raye told her with a frown.

"Do tell."

"Vision." That was all that needed to be said.

That meant that she had been moved. So where in the hell had she been murdered? Serena knew that very few suicides managed to rip out their own throats and stomachs so efficiently.

"I can't get anything off her except for jumbled images."

"Think you can bounce some of those off me?"

Raye shot her a curious glance. Was Serena seriously offering to share a vision? Raye knew of the blonde's aversion for having unexpected premonitions foisted upon her.

When Serena nodded an affirmative to her unasked question, Raye nodded her consent. She would not be responsible for the blonde's resulting migraine. "All right then, let's get to work."

* * *

It was almost three in the morning before the crime scene was fully processed. Once Raye got over the fact that the forensics team were locals and not MID, she'd taken to issuing orders at the CSI's as if they were her own team. Out of fear and awe, they had done as the raven haired psychic commanded.

Jared Knight hadn't wanted to leave, but after giving a brief statement to the impatient reporters, interviewing the neighbors and taking their statements, nothing else could be done. There were no leads to follow. _Nothing_. He had given Raye permission to do as she willed with the CSI personnel. To Raye's unmitigated dismay, he'd only left after he'd ordered them not to talk to any reporters and left two OPD squad cars and a dozen officers to look after them.

With remarkable restraint, Raye rolled her eyes heavenward as she refrained from commenting on the absurdity of the situation. They were MID trained, if anything, they'd be the ones protecting the police officers.

Serena and Raye decided to stay behind to process the rest of the crime scene. For them this meant going through every inch of the house once again, this time without psychic interference. Serena knew Raye was a touch sensitive psychic and tended to get too many visions from accidental contact. Being in close proximity to her, Serena tended to get them as well. So they went through the house, touching everything in the hopes that it'd spark a vision that would help them put a face on their killer.

From what they'd found magically, the victim had lived a fairly ordinary life. Aside, that is, from what Serena thought to be the victim's obsession with her cat. No one loved their pet that much, except maybe eccentric millionaires and crazy old ladies who live in dilapidated houses. Their victim was neither of those things, and Serena— after examining the multitude of photos of the victim's cat— had briefly wondered of the much beloved pet's location. Apparently the cat was MIA and none of the neighbors had seen a stray running loose in the neighborhood. With the way the investigation was going, it would be just their luck to find out that the killer had killed the cat as well as its owner.

Of the twenty visions they'd bounced off each other, nothing exciting had happened to this home...except for the crime itself. It seemed their killer had come to the victim's home only once and that was to kill her. And he'd ended up staying for more than one day. That had explained why they couldn't find any usable prints or hair samples other than the victim's; their guy had stayed behind and wiped the place clean.

Visions were always draining. Especially the ones Serena shared with Raye. So after shoving three energy bars down her throat, Serena was ready to call it a night. It wouldn't do for a federal agent to get in a car accident just because she was suffering from vision-induced exhaustion.

Raye, being as stubborn as she was, had insisted that she could drive herself home so Serena doubtfully escorted her friend to her waiting car. After seeing her friend settled, she'd started toward her own car only to turn back when Raye's nodding head had set off the horn.

Despite being a petite, fragile-looking blonde, Serena had easily man-handled her raven haired partner, carrying most of the other's weight before she'd finally made it out of her car. Serena considered this karma for all the times either Mina or anyone else had had to drag her to a hospital kicking and screaming.

Now driving at forty-five miles per hour in a sixty lane, Serena eyed the sleeping psychic.

Visions usually hit Raye harder than they did her. Serena usually only felt exhausted after sharing visions with Raye and worn out after experiencing flashes of the future through dreams. But Raye reacted much quite differently: either becoming shaky and pale or extremely exhausted and drained.

Serena reached her condo complex forty minutes later, which was a good thing since she was certain that she'd been an accident waiting to happen. Driving Raye to her own apartment had been out of the question. Even Serena wasn't in any condition to even drive herself home, much less the two hour drive it would take to get to Raye's apartment.

After parking in the communal parking lot, Serena poked Raye in the rib, hoping to get her attention. Raye didn't shift at all in her seat.

Muttering to herself about the inconvenience of the situation, Serena got out of the car and opened the passenger-side door. Lugging Raye to her door proved to be harder than Serena had imagined. The raven- haired psychic was a dead weight hampering Serena's movements. Making sure that there were no witnesses, Serena hefted Raye's limp body over her shoulder with some difficulty. She awkwardly fished out her house keys and opened the front door.

The inside of the condo was pitch-black and it took Serena a moment to remember exactly where the light switch was located. Light flooded her modest living room.

"Where have you been?" a distinctively annoyed female voice hissed.

"Luna," Serena blinked, eying the obviously aggravated figure sitting on the beige leather sofa. "What are you still doing up?"

The look the cat gave her in response was one of total disdain. "Do you know what time it is? How _long_ I've been waiting for you to come home?"

Serena waved the question off. Having grown up with the woman, she was used to the shapeshifting witch being overly protective. Hopping from one foot to the other, she was reminded of Raye's weight. She was tired —not to mention hungry— and in no mood to explain herself to a cat, even if said cat _was_ her aunt. "How about we have this conversation after I put her somewhere?" she asked, moving away from the front door and further into the room.

"Serena," the cat screamed in outrage as she followed the blonde further into the house. "You've been gone since eight this morning!" she continued, obviously distressed. The petite blonde usually called to leave a message when she'd be late. "Where were you?"

Serena paused in the hallway as she considered the best place to put Raye, completely ignoring Luna's ranting even when the cat started pacing around her immobile feet. Her room was obviously out of the question; Serena was too tired to share a bed with anyone. She'd probably end up waking the psychic up anyway with the way she'd been sleeping lately. A feeling of dread made her stomach clench into tight knot. That left Mina's room.

'_Damn it!'_ she thought, irritated and distressed by the fact that she'd have to step into Mina's room, touch Mina's things —she hadn't done any of those things for the past six months. Mina's room was something she ignored, though she was sure Luna had cleaned it at least twice a month.

With her hand on the doorknob and Luna only a few steps behind, Serena was torn between dumping Raye's sleeping form on the couch or braving the room she'd been avoiding for months.

"You don't have to go in there," Luna stated gently.

Serena lowered her head as she contemplated the doorknob. Sighing wearily, she answered, "I know." Raye could sleep in her bed while she slept on the couch.

She was such a coward.

Her fingers slipped from the doorknob. Squaring her shoulders and tightening her hold on Raye's slim waist, Serena marched toward her own bedroom.

I am _not_ a coward, she told herself vehemently as she began to strip Raye's unresponsive body of shoes, socks and suit jacket.

"Who is she?" Perched at the foot of the bed, Luna gazed at Raye with unrestrained curiosity.

Serena paused for a second in the act of disarming Raye's body of its weaponry. "This is Raye," she answered almost mechanically, checking to make sure that the safety was on for all the three guns that Raye carried. "She's my new temporary partner."

Luna eyed the sleeping psychic inquisitively and then her maroon eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. "They're replacing Mina."

Serena's shoulders stiffened. She hadn't wanted to think of her new partnership in such a way, but it was true. Setsuna was trying to replace Mina. "Yes," she answered emotionlessly. There was no reason for her to feel betrayed. MID policy prohibited agents from working the field alone. If she wanted to be a lone agent, she'd have to become a full time assassin, and that was something Serena refused to do.

"Are you okay with that?"

Serena knew that Luna was concerned about her mental health. The witch had known Mina as long as Serena had. They'd been a sort of family the four of them—Serena, Mina, Luna and Mina's ghost familiar, Artemis. By leaving, Mina had not only abandoned them, she'd also broken their trust.

Serena shook her head, trying to rid her mind of these useless thoughts. Mina was gone and she was trying her hardest to get on with her life —that was all that mattered. Mina had been like a sister to her, but there was no use in dwelling in the past. She was sure that there was a good explanation for Mina's abrupt disappearance.

"I'm fine," she finally answered after tucking Raye in.

Closing the bedroom door, she grabbed some extra sheets and pillows from the hallway closet. Luna followed one step behind her, a reassuring presence.

Serena eyed the couch in obvious displeasure. The sofa looked uncomfortable, something that shouldn't be slept on.

Damning herself for her cowardice, she sighed in resignation and promised herself she'd take a nice warm shower when she woke up. She hated sleeping with the scent of Death still clinging to her body.

In the middle of disarming herself, her cell phone rang, interrupting her thoughts. For a moment, she debated answering. Who in their right mind would be calling her at three in the morning? The caller ID said it was her younger brother, Sammy.

Heaving a sigh, Serena flipped open the phone. "What do you want? And do you know what time it is?"

"Well, aren't you just a ray of sunshine."

Her younger sibling's bemused reply didn't amuse her. "Sammy," she hissed warningly.

"There's this party. Go with me."

"_Sammy_." She tried again, using her 'annoyed big sister' voice. It never failed to convey her displeasure.

"Well," he breathed as if exasperated by the fact that he had to explain himself—to his older sister no less. "You weren't answering your phone earlier and I called you like a bazillion times."

"And you thought calling me at three in the morning would make me more receptive to your demands, how?"

"Well it worked, didn't it?" She had to admit, he had a point. "Like I was saying," he continued, taking her silence as a sign to continue. "There's this party a couple of weeks from today."

"You do realize that "couple of weeks" isn't all that informative, right?"

"C'mon Serena," he wheedled, "Dad can't go and he asked me to go for him."

"Then go."

"But I don't have a date."

"Go find yourself one."

"I'm in the process of doing just that. I want you to go with me."

Serena was pretty sure there was some logic behind his reasoning, she just wasn't all that certain where.

"I'm sure one of the girls in your school would gladly go."

"That's the problem, Sere. If this was just another regular event, I would have asked one of them. But I don't think they'd know how to deal with this."

"You mean the supernatural."

"Yeah," he replied sullenly, "They're supernatural fanatics. They'd ditch me in a second if one of those werewolves even smiled at them."

Serena resisted the urge to laugh. She could feel her resistance weakening.

Sammy continued on, "And it's a family thing. Turns out one of our own's a werewolf now."

If one of her family just got bitten, Serena was sure it was from her mother's side. They were the ones with connections to the supernatural community, being mostly witches and psychics. She couldn't believe she was seriously considering partying when she had a case going on. Catching this killer was her top priority, but Sammy also mattered. "I don't have a dress."

"I've already bought one in your size along with some jewelry and I remembered to get shoes." Sammy answered smugly.

"Arrogant little prick!" she replied with a laugh, "I should really make you beg."

"Thanks sis, I owe you a big one."

"You say that now..."

"Hey," he replied indignantly, "I keep my promises!"

"Just wait 'till I cash in," she stated darkly. He laughed good-naturedly and they said their goodbyes.

Serena finished disarming herself. She could feel Luna's penetrating stare burning a hole in the back of her neck as she started to take off her shoes. She rolled her eyes heavenward and muttered, "That was Sammy. One of our relatives is now a werewolf."

Luna huffed in indignation, "As if I didn't already know that."

Serena raised an eyebrow, "So which one of my lovely cousins has turned to the dark side?"

"One of Bane's brats," Luna responded, voice filled with scorn. There was no love lost between her and her half-cousins. "Esther."

Serena frowned slightly, "That's right. Isn't she the one dating that guy from Pack Mene?"

Luna nodded curtly. She'd never approved of their family's involvement with the loups-garous.

Serena frowned at her aunt. Luna had always had an unyielding prejudice against the loups-garous, yet she'd never sought to explain her reasoning to Serena. The blonde assumed it had something to do with her aunt being a cat and the loups-garous being dogs. She never had a problem with Serena's other shapeshifting friends while she was growing up.

Serena shook her head, her thoughts coming back to the conversation at hand. Some far distant second or third cousin's love-life wasn't something she particularly cared about. At least her cousin wasn't dating someone from Pack Máni-Hati. Andrew was probably one of the only sane people to come out of that pack.

Serena stretched languidly before dropping into an exhausted heap on the sofa. She pulled the blanket up to her shoulders before bidding Luna goodnight. With the new case at the forefront of her mind, Serena already knew there would be no respite from life in her dreams. When she closed her weary eyes, all she could see was Death staring at her with cold green eyes.

* * *

**AN:** As you can see, I like to abuse commas. I blame it all on reading _Moby Dick_ over the summer with all those long complex and compounded sentences that take up a page or more before a period is reached. Herman Melville is a bad influence that's for sure. And reading Sir Thomas Browne first thing in the semester isn't helping either.

Setsuna's office is loosely based on Mac's on _CSI:NY_. It's so see-through everyone can see everything…but not really. If that makes sense XD

[1]An incubus (incubi is the plural form) is a sex demonXD yes, don't hate me for making Zach a sex demon! He's like a doctor in this. I'm probably going to write a short story on how he and Amy met.

[2]I was trying to stick to the whole "Roman mythology" names and I so confused myself. So I'm mixing the Gods' names (like they do in SM) since I very well couldn't call Ken Neptune (since the outers will show up later (_much_ later) in the story) so he gets the Greek equivalent.

_Last Edited Nov.20, 2009_


	4. Of Eyes Wide Open

**Chapter Four: Of Eyes Wide Open**

Raye woke up feeling all around crappy as hell. There was a relentless tempo pounding in her head and even as she tried to escape it by burrowing into the warmth that surrounded her, it refused to leave her alone. This encompassing warmth was so unlike the cool feel of satin that she was used to feeling against her skin, that Raye only made a half-hearted attempt at untangling herself from the cocoon of warmth encircling her. It was then the warning bells started going off in her brain. This wasn't her bed.

Raye's amethyst eyes shot open at the thought. She quickly sat up and surveyed the room, ignoring the jackhammers pounding away at her skull. Raye prided herself on being a detail-oriented person. This might not be her room, for never in her life would she buy herself a Roger the Rabbit comforter, but she had a pretty good idea of who it might belong to.

She searched her mind for any piece of information that would help her understand how she'd ended up in Serena's bed. She had vague fragmented memories of being carried on the slight blonde's back and being surrounded by warmth. She groaned as she got herself out from under the covers. She quickly redressed and left the bedroom.

It was Serena's high pitched voice, singing off tune that brought the psychic to the kitchen. Raye stood in the doorway in shocked silence. She gaped as Serena bounced in step to the song, a wooden spoon in hand while the black cat at her feet ignored the blonde's antics.

Serena did a half-spin and spotted Raye dressed in her crumpled suit, staring at her dumbfounded. She immediately stopped and felt her whole body flush in embarrassment. How long had the psychic been standing there, watching her make a fool of herself? Serena broke the awkward silence by laughing sheepishly. "I see you're finally up."

Serena had a way of stating obvious facts. Raye just nodded her head, still shocked by the fact that Serena even _knew_ how to use a stove. Serena didn't cook. She couldn't even boil _water_ without something going terribly wrong.

The blonde motioned for her to take a seat at the round kitchen table. "I'm just making us some breakfast."

Raye slowly approached the kitchen table and took a seat. She still had a niggling feeling that something wasn't quite right in the kitchen. Raye kept a close eye on the blonde as she began to babble incessantly about the media's coverage of their case. It briefly crossed Raye's mind that they were screwed. Setsuna was going to chew them out when they got to work. She groaned, burying her head into her folded arms. She wondered how much information the reporters had already leaked to the public.

Minutes later, the cat, which Raye had ignored, swiped her sharp claws at Serena's exposed ankle.

"Eek!" the blonde shrieked, "Luna! That was so _mean_!"

"If you'd fed me five _minutes_ ago that wouldn't have happened."

"But I'm cooking breakfast," the blonde whined, bending down to rub at the angry red marks that now decorated her ankle.

Raye was pretty damn sure there were just some things even in this day and age that cats couldn't do, and talking was one of them. Yet Serena's cat had opened its _mouth_ and talked. Raye eyed the cat and then its owner. Okay, so all that excess psychic energy had been coming from Serena's talking cat. That still didn't explain _how_ the cat could talk. "Your cat just talked." Raye stated expressionlessly.

"She tends to do that sometimes." Serena started to laugh nervously, scratching the back of her head as she surveyed the room for possible exits. She knew they should have moved the stove away from the window. How was she to jump out of it when the stove was blocking it? "This is my aunt, Luna."

Raye blinked, gazing blankly at the cat. "Your aunt's a cat."

"Well," Serena started, scratching her chin with the handle of the wooden spoon, "She's actually my mom's cousin. I just think it's weird to call someone twice your age 'cousin,' so I call her aunt."

"She's a shapeshifter?"

"I'm a _witch_," Luna replied indignantly. She was tired of the two talking about her as if she wasn't there. She might look like a cat, but she wasn't one. Her tail swished threateningly as she eyed Raye with a dangerous glint in her eyes.

Raye had the feeling that this cat—Serena's aunt, she reminded herself—didn't like her all that much, not with the way her eerie crimson eyes were staring into Raye as if she was an interesting new prey. Raye willed herself not to be intimidated; after all, this was a _cat_ she was talking about.

With a roll of her eyes, Serena interrupted the staring match by saying, "She's actually both. She's her own familiar."

Serena placed a bowl of warm milk in front of Luna. She scratched behind the cat's ears and Luna purred in contentment.

Leaving Raye still staring at Luna, Serena shrugged and turned back to preparing breakfast. She was in no way ashamed of her family. So what if one of her crazy spinster aunts had decided that instead of being known as the crazy cat lady, she would _become_ a cat? Serena was sure every family had an eccentric relative or two, she just happened to be related to a lot of people who weren't always in their right minds.

Serena was beaming a beatific smile at Raye not a few minutes later, a plate of steaming oatmeal in hand. "Here you go, Raye," she said as she deposited the plate in front of Raye.

When the blonde sat opposite of Raye, the psychic eyed her plate as if any moment now, it would attack her. "I'm not gonna die if I eat this, right?" she asked skeptically eyeing the first spoonful of oatmeal.

Serena rolled her eyes. Apparently Raye was still stuck on that time she gave everyone food poisoning when she baked cookies for the office. "Just eat your food. We're already gonna be late for work."

* * *

Raye stifled a yawn as she settled in for a hard day's work. It was barely nine a.m. and already the outer main office was bustling with the movement of other agents. She'd spent most of the morning moving from her cubicle to Serena's office. From the small office she now shared with Serena, Raye had a perfect view of her old cubicle. She eyed it with something akin to homesickness. It wasn't that she had anything against working with Serena, but having spent most of her career with MID as a lone agent, having a partner was something she had to get adjusted to.

Still suffering from post-vision exhausting, she was feeling less than sociable. She badly wanted to rest her head on her forearms and go to sleep. She brushed the urge aside and went back to looking over some of the preliminary lab results the CSIs from OPD had faxed over. So far, they'd found no prints, hairs or fibers not belonging to the victim.

She sighed in irritation. Their suspect couldn't be that good at covering his tracks. He'd messed up somewhere. After all, he'd murdered his five victims in their own homes. He had to have left prints somewhere around one of the homes.

From her vision, she knew there was a good chance that the crime had taken place in the kitchen. But they'd found only found a scant amount of blood there. Most traces of blood had been in the living room. And he couldn't have worn gloves all the time he was in the house. She'd have the CSIs go over the kitchen, living room and front door again. They couldn't be anything other than thorough in this investigation, not with the way the media was already reporting on the case.

Raye sighed in irritation. She needed that autopsy done _now_. It'd be the key to finding out whether or not this _had_ been a crime committed by a magical being. You could never be too careful these days.

From experience, she knew magic and science didn't get along. Science being an art that depended on things happening in a predictable way always clashed with the volatility that was magic. And magic tended to be a double edged sword when it came to solving murders. If they were lucky, catching the bad guy could take as little as a week. Shapeshifters and other magical beings usually left a distinctively identifiable magical signature in their wake. All one had to do was follow the traces of magic left behind to find the bad guy. But in most instances, the trail rarely lasted long. Raye knew they were running out of time.

Raye picked up her office phone and dialed the coroner's office. She didn't care if she'd have to intimidate the medical examiner into compliancy; all she knew was that she'd be seeing the body today.

* * *

Serena entered her small office with two cups of coffee in her hands and the highly prized folder of background information on their victim Amy had managed to put together for her under one armpit. She deposited one cup on Raye's spotless desk and took a seat at her own rather messier one.

"Setsuna wants us in her office at ten thirty," Serena told the other psychic.

Raye grunted in response. It was the only indication that she'd heard Serena. She was too absorbed in the files before her to say anything else. Serena began to skim through their victim—Bianca Lowood's profile. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary about her. She was an orphan, a recent college graduate working at her first job at a publishing firm. There was nothing there hinting at why someone would want her killed in such a brutally gruesome way.

Serena was very curious by nature and always liked a good mystery. It made her itch to interview their victim's friends and extended family. There had to be something she was missing. People murdered people they knew and then they got caught. That's what made solving murders easy: people don't just go around killing people they didn't know. Even serial killers followed patterns when picking their prey. If she remembered correctly, their suspect had already killed four other women. And most importantly, this had taken place during the week of a full moon. If that wasn't a clue, she wasn't sure what would classify as one.

"I'm thinking our suspect's of the shapeshifter variety," She thought aloud, not even bothering to lift her head. Raye would understand.

Raye raised her head from the files she'd been perusing. "So am I." Her brows furrowed in contemplation. She scratched her chin contemplatively with her pen. "I'm thinking a carnivore."

"Now how many shapeshifters do you know that like to hunt during the full moon?"

Raye smirked in comprehension. "It has to be a lycanthrope."

"Yup."

'_Well,' _Serena thought,_ 'that was too easy.'_ All they had to do now was make sure Bianca Lowood _had_ been murdered during the full moon. And that narrowed their pool of suspects. A little at least. She'd feel more than a little betrayed if the evidence said otherwise. But the part of her trained never to take anything at face value knew that this case was more complicated.

* * *

The true nature of one Agent Hades was something that was highly debated among MID agents. The woman gave off enough psychic energy to make just about everyone around her uncomfortable. Jared Knight —when he wasn't helping out OPD with cold cases and other such anomalies—found her presence to be something he couldn't ignore.

He briefly contemplated the fact that she might be Fae, but brushed the thought off. He knew enough about the creatures from the Other Realm to know that they didn't give a damn about humanity and only took interest when it suited them. Jared, who was presently in the company of said Agent, knew that Setsuna Matthews didn't fit the profile, though he was certain she was something other than human.

'_Maybe she's a demon,'_ he mused laconically. With the way she was making him feel like a caged animal, she had to be something powerful. He might be feeling trapped, but it certainly didn't show. He found himself raising an eyebrow in lazy enquiry as the woman continued to hold his gaze from across her imposing desk.

Matthews was giving him her best blank-slate look, unreadable as ever, as she informed him of the fact that she wanted him working with her agents on catching this serial killer.

"I hope this isn't an inconvenience?" she was saying.

His face was an impassive mask as he answered, "Not at all. I'm happy to be of any help."

Her lips twitched at that, as if she knew something that he didn't. "Glad to hear it."

It almost frustrated him that she wasn't giving him anything to work with. Jared wasn't one to be intimidated by a stoic face. He made it his business to know exactly what everyone around him was feeling and possibly thinking at all times. He wasn't getting anything off her. He almost wanted to break his own rule and invade in her mind.

* * *

Raye didn't know what she'd been expecting to find in her boss's office, but she was sure Jared Knight hadn't made the list.

Setsuna waved them in and Serena closed the door behind her, effectively blocking Raye's exit. "Raye, Serena, I'm sure you've already met Detective Knight."

"Oh," Raye responded cleverly. Jared was wearing a black suit this time. _'He looks better in blue,'_ she thought absentmindedly, unconsciously eyeing him, remembering the last time she had seen him. Raye wasn't sure why she was noticing these things, and it unnerved her. She gave him her best 'I don't like you' stare before turning her attention to her boss.

"He's here with relevant information regarding your case." Setsuna, of course neglected to mention it was information she already knew, and therefore there was no reason for Knight to be present. He'd already volunteered all the help and information that Setsuna was sure her agents needed in order to solve the case. She just liked to see how her agents worked under pressure. And she had a feeling Raye didn't like the detective very much.

"We can do this here or in your office." Jared turned his gaze toward Raye as he came closer to the pair. Raye forgot everything except the ability of those blue eyes to freeze her in place.

"I think our office would be better." Serena was saying, "We have a whiteboard with dry erasers. Do you like blue non-permanent markers?"

His eyes; Raye felt as if they were burning into her.

One side of Jared's mouth twitched as he repressed a smile. "Your dry erase board might come in handy."

"C'mon then," Serena motioned toward the door, "Our office's this way."

Raye refused to flinch when he brushed past her, but she still felt the tingle of his almost touch. She turned to leave Setsuna's office, but the older woman stopped her.

Before her boss could speak, Raye started, "Lowood wasn't killed by a human. It's not his jurisdiction. Why is he here?"

Setsuna regarded her calmly, but coolly stated, "I would think you'd want as much information as possible in solving your case, no matter its source."

"What we don't need is outsiders telling us how to do our jobs." Raye replied just as calmly, ice lacing every word.

"Does it really matter whether he's MID or not?"

Raye wanted to shout at her, wanted her to understand that it did matter whether or not some two-bit detective from OPD was telling her what to do, but refrained from doing so. Her simmering silence was an answer within itself.

"Don't let your personal vendettas get in the way of doing your job."

Raye couldn't hide her flinch at the reprimand. "Don't worry about it."

"I'm not." Setsuna answered just as calmly as before, her tone was warning enough: Raye had better not give her a reason to worry. "Consider this a friendly reminder. You're good at what you do. He's good at what he does. You don't need to be his friend in order to extract necessary information from him."

"He's nothing I can't deal with." Raye was known in their unit for keeping her cool under any situation. So what if Jared Knight got under her skin a little and made her have visions that weren't quite premonitions at all? It wasn't anything she couldn't handle.

"Glad to hear it." Setsuna gave her a small enigmatic smile. Raye had the feeling that Setsuna was toying with her.

* * *

"You're psychic." Serena stated the minute Detective Knight closed the door of her office.

"Is that so?" He replied, nonchalant as ever.

Serena knew his type and wasn't impressed. What did interest her was the tension between the blond detective and her new partner. Raye never let anyone get her that riled up. "Raye knows this too, but she's being especially dense at the moment."

Setting his briefcase on Serena's desk, Jared's lips quirked a half-smile, "I've noticed."

"So," Serena leaned in conspiratorially, "What are you?"

"Psychic."

She waved her hand impatiently as he started pulling folders from the briefcase. "I know that, but what's your Talent?"

Jared hesitated before responding. One way or another, she'd find out. Jared had the choice of either telling her now and getting it over with or waiting a couple of days while she ambushed him with more ridiculous questions. He could already see the gears in her head turning, formulating plots he didn't want to be involved in. "Telepathy."

'_Damn,'_ Serena thought. _'No wonder he'd wanted to interview the witnesses.'_ And here she'd thought it was something normal like telekinesis or something. "You work upstairs?"

He raised an eyebrow, a very well defined eyebrow she had to say. "Who says I'm MID?"

That gave Serena pause. She's been so _sure_ he was MID; he'd have to be. Her division didn't just let telepaths walk around without tagging them. And he appeared to be relatively sane. There weren't a lot of sane telepaths running around, or maybe he was screwing with her. She narrowed her eyes at the thought. '_Don't mess with me,'_ she thought with enough vehemence she was sure he'd pick up on it. Out loud she asked, "So you're not?"

"Not what?" Raye asked upon entering their office. She made her way to her desk and leaned against it.

"Going through the hell of being your partner?" Serena answered cheekily. Being Mina's partner for six years had taught her a thing or two when it came to annoying Raye.

Raye shot Serena a nasty look and turned her narrowed eyes on Jared, who seemed unaffected by the intensity of her gaze as usual. His blue eyes were taunting her, daring her to say something to put him in his place, and that only served to increase her aversion of him. _You are as cool as ice,_ she reminded herself. _He is nothing but an insignificant pest to be ignored._ The sooner they got through this, the sooner she'd be rid of him. Raye reached behind her for paper and pen. "Your information?"

Jared cleared his throat, eyes in turn hardening. "I was assigned these cases around the same time the fourth victim was murdered. This has been happening for months. Each murder takes place during the full moon. Since it takes twenty-eight days for each new moon cycle, that's the schedule our perp goes by. He picks them up during a new moon and by the full moon, they're dead. As you can see, this has lycanthropy written all over it. We're thinking it's either a local or foreign loup-garou. One that's familiar with the area. These young women _were_ locals. Our suspect's MO from what I've gathered so far is blonde, blue eyed young women in their mid-twenties. All living alone." He paused. "Any questions?"

"What about the cat?" Serena couldn't help but ask. It was a question that had been nagging her ever since she'd seen the photographs at the crime scene.

Jared's face lost its seriousness for a moment and his mouth quirked into a half smile before it returned to its neutral, inexpressiveness, "It appears that all of our victims were cat owners and currently, their pets are listed as missing. No animal shelter has reported finding strays anywhere near where the vicinity of our crime scene or the surrounding neighborhoods. So far, no one has come forward claiming they've found a cat matching the victims' pets."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Serena couldn't help but exclaim. Their suspect sure as hell was making his MO apparent. Either he really hated cat owners (if it really was a loup-garou doing this, Serena could understand the aversion to cats) or he just liked killing the same woman over and over again. Serena knew that people didn't just wake up one day and decide to go on killing sprees. Once they determined their suspect's motive it would make catching him a hell of a lot easier.

After clearing his throat Jared asked, "Anything else?"

"Why did it take so long for OPD to come to MID?"

Jared's left eye twitched in irritation. He'd been expecting this to pop up. He could mention the fact that it had been Hino's boss who had called his office and directed him to the latest crime scene, but refrained from doing so. This wasn't the time to get into a pissing contest with her, as much as the raven haired psychic's dislike of him amused him. "It didn't occur to the department that these were serial killings until this last murder: same MO as the others."

Raye resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She knew there was a reason why she never did like the local police. They hadn't a clue as to how to solve a murder. She wondered why such departments even still existed. "What about our suspect?"

"From the information we've been able to piece from the victims' families and neighbors, we know our suspect's a male between his mid-twenties and early thirties."

"Anyone ever get a look at him?"

"Only one witness, though it wasn't a very good one. She's the second victim's neighbor."

"What's her contact information?"

"Currently, she's out of state."

"Why are you so sure this was done by a loup-garou?" Serena asked. Even though she and Raye had reached the same conclusion, having someone else explain why always reaffirmed her convictions. It would silence the part of her that thought moon cycles had nothing to do with the killings.

Jared shrugged in response. "It's pretty obvious, don't you think?" He shrugged again. "There's always the possibility that our suspect's imitating a lycanthropy kill. And there's some of the Fae who could do it. For all we know, a Daemon could have done it."

"It could be some other kind of shapeshifter." Raye added, if only to spite him.

"True, there are many shapeshifters who kill their prey by eviscerating them, but I don't know many other were-creatures who follow this pattern for hunting prey."

"All right, so our suspect might be a loup-garou." Serena conceded, stopping a minor glaring contest in the works. She knew how stubborn Raye could be when she set her mind to something.

"I'm currently going over the medical reports and autopsies. We have to be sure that these killings were done by a lycanthrope or there won't be any cooperation from the loup-garou Council's end in this investigation."

"Cooperation?" Serena frowned at him slightly, her pen tapping against her cheek. It wasn't unheard of for a loup-garou pack leader to cooperate with MID. She just wasn't sure how that fit into their case. "Don't the people upstairs handle that?"

Jared hesitated only a moment before saying, "We haven't been able to get in contact with the local packs or their Council. I'm betting the only way we can catch this guy is with their help. The local packs monitor the newly turned loups-garous for three full moon cycles before they're allowed to Change alone. It's a precaution. Our suspect's either a newly bitten lycanthrope or a rogue. Either way, getting the Council's cooperation is essential to our success in catching this guy."

"All right then," Raye stated, "Serena and I'll look over the previous victims' autopsies and pay their families a visit."

"All right." Going to his briefcase once again, Jared pulled out more folders and made a pile on Serena's desk. "Here's a copy of the previous victims' autopsy reports and everything else we've been able to gather."

Raye grudgingly had to admit that Setsuna was right; Detective Knight did know what he was doing.

"Thanks." Serena mumbled, flipping through the folders. There were so many colored tabs sticking out from the folders, it was starting to scare her. And here she'd thought Amy was anal about organization. Jared Knight took it to a whole other level. Maybe it was symptomatic of the job. But then again, she'd been on the job for more than five years and she still hadn't developed the sudden compulsion to organize everything in her path. "We'll be in contact with you if we need anything else."

Jared took that as his cue to leave. Hoping futilely that the blonde hadn't noticed that he'd let slip that he worked "upstairs." And maybe he'd get lucky and win the lottery. "Yes, of course." He packed up the rest of his folders and stuck them in his briefcase. Smiling, Serena waved him out of their small office.

They were silent for a moment as Serena restacked the pile of folders in a semblance of their previous orderliness. Serena stood up to stretch, "I'm thinking we should look at what local packs are near our victims' homes so we could at least narrow down how many packs we'll have to call."

"I'll go talk to Amy. She's likely to be more helpful in the narrowing down part," Raye started, getting up from her desk, still holding the pad of notes she'd taken from Jared's briefing. "And the more info we have on our vics, the better."

"Right. I need to call Sapphire. He owes me a favor." [1]

"See you in thirty minutes. We have a meeting with the M.E."

* * *

Sapphire liked to think he lived a rather uncomplicated life. This dream of normalcy was impeded the minute Serena Fairchild had come crashing into his life. He should have known the moment he'd first bumped into her that she'd be trouble. He was really starting to regret giving her his office phone number.

Sitting behind his desk with a phone glued to one ear, he listened to her demands and half-threats, trying not to groan in agony. There went his lunch break. He knew he shouldn't have picked up when his secretary had informed him of the fact that Serena was on the other line. Serena calling was never good news. He had to start remembering that.

"You're sure this was done by a loup-garou?" He asked once again, just to make sure. They'd been arguing in a circular fashion. The promise she'd likely extract from him by the end of the phone call was on the tip of his tongue and Sapphire was doing his damnedest to evade it. It was a pointless exercise in futility and they both knew it. Life would be so much simpler if he could just give in and do as she asked. But there were consequences to taking the easy way out. Consequences that came in the form of Endymion's anger. There was no way he'd call his alpha if there wasn't any evidence (circumstantial or not) that suggested this was a case dealing with lycanthropy.

"Yes," Serena hissed in exasperation. Hadn't she gone over this like a thousand times in the past fifteen minutes?

"I'll see what I can do," he stated warily. "I'm not promising you anything."

"Just get me a meeting with him," she replied pleadingly. It was easy to see that she'd won their argument that wasn't really an argument: Sapphire never could say no to her. And she wasn't just saying that because he always gave her what she wanted. Really.

Sapphire wanted to point out that his pack leader didn't take demands well, but refrained from doing so. He knew Serena was likely to ignore it. She'd probably end up bothering him for the next couple of days until he _did_ come up with the results that she wanted.

"I'll try." That said he hung up.

Rubbing his temples, Sapphire closed his weary, navy blue eyes. He momentarily considered moving to another continent. Maybe Serena wouldn't be able to track him down and pester him to death. But that hadn't worked for Diamond so it sure as hell wouldn't for him and Sapphire wasn't about to go to the extreme his brother had gone to in order to escape both Serena and MID's grasp. He liked being two-footed.

Sapphire was the kind of guy who took his responsibilities seriously. As Endymion's second-in-command and Council member, his pack and his kind always came first. He knew it was MID procedure to contact at least one of the local packs when a rogue loup-garou was loose in the city, if only to avoid conflict from occurring between the Division and the local supernatural beings. Though he was sure the supernatural community felt no need to reciprocate. He could still remember the bloodbath from years ago— before laws like these were instated— when MID agents had taken out an entire tribe of were-tigers and the uproar it had caused. Shuddering, Sapphire hoped something like that never happened again.

MID had a whole department dedicated to keeping the supernatural communities informed on killings they deemed "important," and usually one of those agents would contact his office. He frowned in thought, the actually agents working the cases usually never had any contact with him, and the information needed was usually faxed or given through a phone call. If Serena was considering asking the Council for help, that only meant one thing: her suspect was a danger to both the human and supernatural communities. The person he knew Council was most likely to dispatch to take care of the problem was Endymion.

Sapphire truly did loathe the idea of calling Endymion especially when he knew his pack leader had made it excruciatingly clear that he did not wish to be interrupted at all today. He'd have to make this short and to the point. Sighing in resignation, he picked up the receiver and dialed.

* * *

The inside of Raye's car smelled of jasmine and Casablanca lilies. Serena, seated in the passenger side of Raye's red Acura, flipped through the autopsies of the former victims whose families she and Raye would be re-interviewing that afternoon. She hadn't been able to dissuade her partner from the morgue visit. It wasn't as if the body would disappear on them. Witnesses and victims' families on the other hand, they could disappear in a heartbeat.

Most frustrating of all, she was sure there was still something they were missing in all of this —something detrimental to the entire investigation. One of the obvious things that had struck her as "odd," was the fact that the crime scenes were too clean. One didn't do that much carnage without there actually being bloody footprints. Either their suspect liked to clean up after himself or he wasn't a loup-garou as they were assuming. It made her think that their killer wasn't as crazy as they were assuming he was either. Maybe he wasn't crazy at all.

All of the victims had the same type of cat, a white Maine Coon with light green eyes who seemed to go missing after the murders. Serena was really starting to contemplate the possibility that the killer had murdered the cats. He must have given it to the victims, she told herself. That would explain why they all had the same type of cat. Serena knew there was a point where coincidences couldn't be taken as such. When it came to murders (especially of the serial kind), there was no such thing as coincidences. She made a note to look into Maine Coon breeders in the area. Serena was pretty sure that loups-garous held a general aversion for felines. Andrew always seemed to avoid her when she smelled like Luna. The question then was why would the killer go through all that trouble of gifting his victims with the same cat?

Serial killers took pride in staying one step ahead of the authorities. But this one was an enigma. The cases —when seen alone— seemed like a typical human-gets-mauled-by-werewolf-and-doesn't-survive, yet their suspect was going after a specific type of prey: young women who were all blonde and blue eyed. What worried Serena the most was the fact that he had Changed. Loups-garous were as scary-strong in human form as they were deadly when they turned furry. Their killer could have killed his victims in human form. What Serena couldn't seem to wrap her mind around was why they'd all been killed in wolf form; it didn't make one bit of sense.

"This guy, he doesn't operate like a serial killer. Yes, there is a specific type of women he goes after, but since most serial killers collect mementoes from their kills —well, he hasn't done that. The victims' houses are always spotless. Nothing ever seems out of place except for the crime itself. It just seems like he's killing these women after going out with them."

Raye snorted. "Our guy's keeping his crime scenes simple for one reason only: the fancier the scheme, the more likely it is to fall apart."

"That may be true, but there's still something fishy about the whole thing. It doesn't make _sense_."

"When have serial killers ever made sense?"

Serena didn't answer and the rest of the ride to the morgue was filled with a comfortable silence. Serena turned back to her files looking for anything unusual. She'd be looking over the notes she'd collected later at home.

The M.E. who led them to the morgue looked haggard and harassed by the time Serena and Raye were in scrubs. The regular pathologist who occasionally dealt with MID agents was currently on vacation. And Raye wasn't making it easy for his substitute. "Did you check for foreign hairs on the victim like I asked?"

"Yes." He replied dragging a cart with the tools they would need next to the examining table. "Everything of interest that I found has been sent to the labs to be analyzed. You should get a report soon enough."

"What's the COD?" Poor fellow, by the time this was over, Raye was going to destroy him.

Bianca Lowood's body, after being uncovered for their viewing pleasure, looked exactly as it had the last time the two agents had seen it. Laid out on a metal slab with only a thin, white sheet hiding most of the carnage done to her body, Serena had a sudden urge to cover the corpse. It looked too much like a broken rag doll. There was something she should be noticing, something she hadn't the night before. The nagging feeling that was her psychic intuition wouldn't let it be. It wasn't just the magic in her rebelling at how familiar and yet unusual this all seemed to be, it was the cop too. The smell of antiseptics and dead flesh that tickled her nostrils wasn't helping either. There had always been something about morgues that made Serena decidedly uneasy.

They snapped on latex gloves as the medical examiner started listing off everything he could find about their corpse on the table. Most of it they had already noted at the crime scene. The damage was extremely obvious.

Serena's mind wandered off in a matter of minutes. Some distant part of her knew that Raye was taking meticulous notes, but the other more focused part of her was re-examining the body and seeing the damage their killer had wrought under the fluorescent light of day. It seemed more real this way. He'd eviscerated her, gorged out her abdominal cavity, ripped out intestines. Lowood's chest was ripped to shreds, her throat had been crushed, small bone fragment were protruding from torn tissue. It still wasn't a pretty sight, even with the M.E.'s clean up of the cadaver.

It wasn't long before the M.E. was done reciting the list of damages done to Lowood's body. Finished, he handed Serena two post-mortem reports (probably because she looked to be the friendlier of the two agents), stating he'd fax another if need be.

Raye wanted to look the body over again and Serena consented with a shrug. She'd gotten over the fact that they were wasting time when they could be interviewing key witnesses. And there was something wrong with the corpse. She tapped her highlighter against the cool steel of the examining table as she began scanning the copy of the autopsy report. The M.E.'s report stated that Lowood's eyes were dilated and there weren't any defensive wounds on either the victim's arms or legs. That immediately struck her as odd. Serena added it to the growing list of things that made this case frustratingly confusing. She was sure that sane people liked to defend themselves when being chased by big, bad, furry wolves with sharp claws that were likely to tear one to pieces.

"Raye look at her eyes."

Raye snapped out of her daze, cocking her head to the side. "Why?"

"Her pupils Raye," Serena stood up, placed the reports where she'd been sitting and moved closer to the body, "Look at them."

Raye arched an eyebrow questioningly. It wasn't as if she didn't know how the other psychic worked when she was on to something. All she had to do was wait for it; Serena would be making sense soon enough.

"The autopsy states that her pupils are _dilated_." She grabbed an ophthalmoscope[2] from the cart and pulled one of the eyelids back, clicking on the light source. The black of Lowood's pupil was still expanded, swallowing the blue of her irises. The ophthalmoscope fell from her numbed fingers, crashing into the metal slab of the examining table.

Serena leaned in closer. Against her better judgment and Raye's protest, she took off her gloves and touched the corpse's cheek. The cold chill that slowly crawled up from her fingertips straight down her spine had nothing to do with fear; Lowood had seen Death coming. She'd seen it and still she'd died. Talk about a useless gift. "There aren't any defensive wounds on her."

The dark haired psychic nodded. The M.E. had said as much. "She didn't stand a chance."

'_She'd seen it coming,'_ Serena thought in something akin to frustration. That's why this had felt so familiar. Lowood shared her Talent of seeing into the future. That meant the others were psychic, too. Their pupils were still dilated because they'd been in the process of foretelling their own deaths. And maybe that had been for the best.

She looked to the raven haired psychic with sadden eyes, "They were psychic Raye."

"No way," Raye huffed out a frustrated breath. She shoved a hand through her hair. This guy was preying on psychic women and the state was teeming with them. "This is so fucked up."

'_It must have been painless,'_ Serena thought absentmindedly, her hand still on Lowood's cheek. She unconsciously caressed the cold, smooth flesh. Distantly, she felt her stomach twist in unnerving knots. She'd be throwing up her breakfast soon. _'If you aren't there mentally, you can't feel anything.'_ And this must have been the worst type of betrayal: to be hunted and killed by the one you loved the most. "We have to stop him," she stated in firm conviction, her hand cupping the dead girl's cheek gently, "He stalked and killed these girls without their knowledge. They _loved_ him, Raye." And that's when her stomach chose to rebel.

* * *

Serena was far from recovered. Her stomach still clenched rebelliously every time the image of Lowood's face snuck into her thoughts. They had to get this guy before he found himself another guileless victim. Most importantly, they needed to warn the psychics of the state. Their lives were in danger.

"Raye, this guy's killing psychics." Serena said, half way to their first interview of the day. They were stuck in traffic and all she could do was analyze what was wrong and how to fix it. "We have to warn them."

Raye sighed, momentarily taking her eyes off the road to smile reassuringly at Serena. The other psychic needed it more than she knew. "I know, but Setsuna doesn't want the public to know yet, not until we have some clue as to how to find this guy. And until we get the loup-garou Council's permission, this could end up being a total disaster."

Serena's mind chose to go with the worst case scenario. It reporters got hold of this before MID gave a public statement, this could blow up in their faces and cause wide spread panic. The last thing they needed was for the human population of this state to lose their minds over these killings. The loups-garous would demand that the investigation be suspended and that they take care of the situation. MID would refuse and it'd all go down hill from there. Serena repressed a groan. "God help us when the reporters get this little tidbit. I can already see them swarming in like piranhas[3]."

Raye, who was used to random comments from the blondes of her acquaintance, was only momentarily floored by the comment. "Serena, piranhas don't swarm."

"Yes they do, Amy told me so."

Raye rolled her eyes and refused to comment. If she answered, it'd deteriorate into childish bickering. Serena had that kind of effect on her.

Serena wasn't affronted to say the least. She sobered when the image of Lowood's corpse, as they'd first found it in her bedroom surfaced in her mind: prettily arranged, with arms straightened out on either side of her body, eyes closed, dressed in a white nightgown which had been soaked through with dried blood, body already in an early state of decomposition; the stench of Fear and Death had been as overwhelming as the blood. "Let's be serious here, our suspect's killing the same woman over and over again. Once we find out why, we've got him."

"We both know it's never that simple."

"I know, but it's the only thing we've got right now."

They were still stuck in traffic when Serena's cell phone startled them both. Raye had been complaining about the traffic for what seemed like hours and by then, Serena had found a way to block her out. It was reminiscent of how she used to be able to tune Mina out whenever her partner started to ramble about bizarre things.

When Serena didn't make a move to answer it, Raye told her to. Serena wasn't in the mood to talk. She knew that if it was something important, Setsuna would be calling Raye, not her. She was less than reliable these days. But she answered on the third ring, not even bothering with the caller ID. "Hello?"

"It's me, Sapphire."

"Oh," Serena rubbed at her eyes in hopes that something positive would come from this conversation from Sapphire. They already had enough bad news to feed a small army. She put the phone on speaker so both she and Raye can hear the news. "What did your pack leader say?"

There was a pause as Sapphire tried to see how receptive Serena would be to the news he'd have to relay. After a moment of indecision, he decided to just come out with it. "He's thinking about it."

Serena heaved a frustrated sigh. They didn't have _time_ for some arrogant alpha to make up his mind. "Call him again and tell him how important this is. Someone's going to die if he doesn't agree to help us."

Something in her tone sent prickles of apprehension racing down his spine. "What's wrong?"

Serena rubbed her temple, trying to fight off the oncoming headache. Maybe Sapphire would understand the significance of killing psychics who could see the future because she sure as hell couldn't. "He's killing psychics, Saph."

"Shit." Sapphire, who'd only called to give bad news hadn't been expecting some himself. Killing women was a capital offense that warranted death in the loup-garou community. But psychics, that's something else entirely. "You've got to be fucking kidding me."

"No, it's true," Raye responded, not liking how much the man on the other line was swearing. She'd only met Sapphire once and to her, first impressions were everything. Sapphire hadn't impressed her much, but he hadn't seemed the type to swear up a storm just because psychics were mentioned. "What's so special about psychics?"

"You mean aside from the fact that they have a higher potential of surviving the Change?"

Shocked, both women stared at each other in befuddlement. "What?"

"It's true. Turning a human is a lot more complicated than you'd think. Just biting the person isn't enough. A Changed loup-garou would have to intend harm, to intend to infect their prey, which by the way, requires a lot more focus than an average wolf can muster. And even if the wolf does succeed, most humans are below average when it comes to surviving the Change. Psychics have a higher rate of survival."

"So our suspect's been "biting" these women in hopes that they'll survive the Change?"

"That's starting to sound like a distinct possibility." There was a pause as he processed her last comment. "Wait a minute, there's more than one victim?"

"So far he's killed five and is probably in the process of picking out his sixth."

"Damn it!" He exclaimed, "Serena, why didn't you tell me this the first time around?"

Serena's brows furrowed as she eyed the phone. "I didn't think it was important. What I needed from you was a meeting with your pack leader or the Council's permission."

"Serena, you may not know this but once a loup-garou starts to kill humans, they tend to go insane."

"So our wolf _is_ crazy?" she asked skeptically. There went that theory.

"There's no doubt about it. Your killer's not only a danger to the humans but to other loups-garous as well. You might be dealing with either a moon-madden werewolf or a Berserker."

Raye let out a strangled breath. She'd hunted a couple of insane werewolves before, but neither she nor Serena had ever encountered a Berserker. How the hell were they supposed to catch this guy if they didn't know a damn thing about what he was? "Sapphire," she said. There was an edge to her voice as she imagined the disaster waiting to happen, "You need to call your pack leader immediately. He can't keep putting off this meeting. We need to deal with this now. We can't afford a sixth victim."

There was a long pause followed by a heavy sigh. "You're right. We need to catch this wolf before he causes anymore damage and you need to know what you're facing. I'll arrange it."

Both agents sighed in relief. That was something, at least.

* * *

**AN:** This chapter is nowhere near as long as the last one, but at least it got the plot movingXD

[1] For those of you know don't recognize him, Sapphire/Saphir is Diamond's younger brother from the Black Moon saga. He was the only sane one in the bunchXD And since I took away Endymion's generals, he really needed a friend that looked almost like him (don't believe me, go check out his pics and compare).

[2] I was having the hardest time figuring out what that thing the doctors use to examine your eyes is called. *grins triumphantly* It took three Beta readers to figure it out, but I finally found the name!

[3]Okay so I didn't know whether or not piranhas swarmed, but I wanted to use the phrase. But apparently, piranhas _do_ swarm and therefore Serena wins this argument.

_Last Edited Nov.20, 2009_


	5. Of the Broken

**Chapter Five: Of the Broken**

The decision to visit the Den was something Endymion found he couldn't avoid. He was sure that Sapphire called him first just to avoid bringing up MID's request to the attention of the Council. The decision to inform the other Council members, he quickly inferred, was up to him. And like all inconsequential things, the task managed to slip his mind. Most likely, it was because anything involving the Council set his hackles on edge. He wasn't their messenger boy; that was Sapphire's job. He was good at being second-in-command because he knew how to keep Council off Endymion's back. Usually.

Heading west on the freeway, Endymion promised himself, he'd make Sapphire pay when this was all over. He had put this off until he'd gotten an urgent message from the other loup-garou about the situation: the rogue was killing psychic women. Everything in Endymion rebelled against the thought. The men of his kind knew how precious psychics were to the development of their werewolf populace. Even rogues didn't target women.

His pack's permanent home was in the small town of Elysian. The town was located in the northern parts of Washington State close to the Canadian border. The Den, as it was referred to, was a luxurious mansion back from the main road, surrounded by a densely wooded area that was essentially a small forest. It had its own large pond nearby. Complete with a dock, lily pads, exotic imported fishes, wild birds, and acres of unruly land purchased by the pack as part of their territory.

Pulling onto the dirt road that led to Elysian, he considered the killer's origin. It wasn't anyone from his pack. He would have scented human blood and flesh on the guilty party even days after the crime had been committed. There was no way he wouldn't have noticed a predator that dangerous and unpredictable. His instincts wouldn't let him; he'd been trained to recognize a loup-garou in Bloodlust from early adolescence. The rogue was from another pack.

That only left two possibilities: a newly bitten werewolf or a Berserker. The former would be easier to spot than the latter. Newly bitten werewolves, no matter how smart they were on two legs, had the tendency to be messy and predictable when four-footed. Berserkers on the other hand, though completely insane, were smarter when it came to their continual survival. As they moved from kill to kill, covering up their tracks became second nature. Endymion liked a good hunt.

Parking in front of the wrought iron gates that isolated the Den from the rest of Elysian, Endymion got out and let himself through the gates. He breathed in the fresh air. Having spent the last three days in the city surrounded by too many scents, too many humans, and too much polluted air, the Den's clean air was a stunning contrast to the city. It reminded him of why he always felt drawn to the Den, no matter how uncomfortable the others made him feel. The Den was his home. Those who lived in Elysian were just there: a populace he was curiously drawn to but never comfortable enough to approach. As a child, Endymion had been denied the pleasure of interacting with the other loups-garous who resided in Elysian. His only companions had been his mother, his tutors, the servants, and some of the aunts who didn't fear him as others seemed to.

It took less than fifteen minutes to arrive at the stone steps of the architectural monstrosity that had been his home for the first 180 years of his life. The Den was the epitome of high gothic architecture. It had been built in the 1840's during the Victorian era. The Den always reminded Endymion of a medieval castle rather than a home. All it was missing was the battlements with shaped parapets and gargoyles. The Den was and had always been the house farthest away from the town. Surrounded by thickly branched trees that obscured it from unwanted eyes, over the centuries, it had blended into its environment. A walkabout garden — extending from the main road to circle around the mansion — led to the main rose garden behind the Den. The Den could easily house over a hundred people and had done so any number of times when the pack got together or one of the aunts decided to throw a party to pass the time.

He let himself in through the front door, moving passed the foyer into the long winding hallway that led to the main rose garden behind the mansion. No one greeted him as he walked through the hall, passing locked chambers and open doorways. He would have found it suspicious and insulting had he actually informed anyone of his impending visit. But he hadn't. The aunts had a tendency to celebrate his announced visits to the Den. Thank the Goddess he hadn't been foolish enough to inform one of them.

The aunt he needed to find, Endymion knew, was likely to be found pruning the roses or planting new ones at this time of day. As a child, the rose garden had been his haven when running through the miniature forest surrounding the Den had become too lonely. He knew and loved those roses as much as his aunts looked after and protected them.

Even before he reached the garden, he could hear his aunt's distinctive, commanding voice over the sound of children's laughter and running feet. She was lecturing on a brush of yellow roses she was probably pruning. Winter this year, had been harsh on the roses and she'd had to work overtime to save most of them from dying. And that scent, Endymion would recognize it anywhere.

Standing under an archway latticed with white and pink roses, he saw Helios. The youth was surrounded by a gaggle of children in all stages of development. They sat cross-legged around the youth as they listened to his aunt's lecture. While Helios sat on one of the iron benches that could be found throughout the garden, back ramrod-straight, wheat-blond hair almost white in the sunlight, pale, white skin almost transparent. He resembled a ghost or a half-dreamed delusion from the Other Realm. It reminded Endymion of the fact that Helios hadn't originally belonged to his pack. As shapeshifters, those of his pack were all timber wolves. Helios was the only arctic wolf, unique among all the wolves under Endymion's protection.

Finally sensing his presence, the younger man turned. "Endy!" he exclaimed, a warm smile sending golden light dancing in his sparkling amber eyes. His golden yellow orbs were the only thing proving that he was still an adolescent in the minds of the loup-garou, even though he'd recently undergone the Change. Endymion wondered if the youth was born with amber-colored eyes or if they would change in the near future.

Endymion found thirty pair of widened golden eyes turned in his direction. He smiled at the children who were staring at him as if he were the Second coming. He was sure their parents would be hearing about this meeting.

Stepping forward, he asked, "Helios, what are you doing here?"

"I don't have any lessons this afternoon." The youth shrugged, as if that should explain everything. After a moment, he guiltily added, "I wanted to come home."

"Home?" Endymion asked, his tone slightly mocking.

Helios's body stiffened slightly. "I'm sorry," he muttered, his voice betraying just a hint of hurt. "I was going to stop by the penthouse later like I said I would."

Endymion eyed the youth in sardonic amusement. Once upon a time, this place hadn't been home to either of them. But Helios had made it so. He'd managed to achieve the impossible: he'd made a responsible man out of Endymion.

At that stage in his life, Endymion had believed himself to be one with the beast that currently lay slumbering within his mind. He'd been one step away from giving it all up and permanently shifting to his other form. As weary as he had been of fighting, of the endless killing, he hadn't been able to stop. He'd had a purpose, and as lonely as it might have been, he'd had a _life_. He'd wanted to be free. Being two-footed required too much both emotionally and physically. As a wolf, human emotions wouldn't be a bother. And then he'd met a terrified child —a victim of the Council's mission to eradicate those they believed to be a threat to their community's continued survival— and everything had changed.

Maneuvering around the still staring children, Endymion took the seat next to Helios. He body relaxed into sprawl as he watched his aunt bend over a bush of lavender roses. She was dressed in the eternal black, which she had worn for many years. Even after ninety-six years of life, her body still resembled that of a thirty year-old. Endymion always did find it amusing, when he reflected on his extended family, that she was his 'aunt,' even though he had a hundred years on her.

Endymion stared absently up at the crisp blue sky. One of his hands automatically stroked the younger boy's hair when Helios leaned on his shoulder. He scrutinized the faint trails of waif-like clouds, featherlike across the sapphire. He sighed, and Helios's head, resting against his shoulder, rose and fell with the small motion.

"See these roses," his aunt was saying, pointing to a large shrub of pink Bourbon roses, pale pink in coloring, "You must remember that every flower and every color has its meaning. Say you hand someone an orange rose. It could mean a multitude of things: jealousy, friendship, familial love, or sympathy. You must take care of what you say: be it with words or with your actions. Of all the flowers that grow in this garden, roses are the most deceitful."

"Never the red roses," Endymion interrupted, "they are by far the most fascinating of all the roses in this garden. They're a representation of passion, desire, of true love that is stronger than the thorns which decorate them."

"Well said Endymion," she remarked, a small smile fleetingly gracing her lips, "you must be forgetting that even your precious red roses are deceiving. Have you forgotten of Carmine?"[1]

"Touché." He gave her a mock salute and lifted his cobalt blue eyes back to the bright blue sky.

"Is that why the others are picking flowers?" One of the children by Endymion's feet asked in obvious confusion, "Because it _means_ something?"

"Yes," his aunt beamed a small smile, "Orange is the color of our pride in those who have survived the Change and are still with us, purple and pink for majesty, enchantment— the sweetest of thoughts. Not all who are attending will know this, knowledge of any kind is power. Use that to your advantage."

Endymion's hand stopped mid-stroke. "Celebration?" Endymion who'd only been half listening to his aunt lecture, couldn't help but ask, ripping his gaze from white clouds imprinted on bright blue skies. Endymion knew that his aunt was just as territorial about her roses as she was of the pack. There was no way she'd let children near her garden unsupervised much less for _rose picking_. What the hell was going on?

"Yes, didn't you know?" His aunt's voice took on the sweet tone she usually used to wheedle a promise from him. It briefly crossed his mind that this _wasn't_ the best time to be near his womenfolk or Helios for that matter. His aunt alone, he could deal with. Helios was another matter entirely. All it took was one sullen glare from the boy for him to retract his words.

"We're having a little celebration for all the new pack members. We must welcome them to their new family."

'_Shit,'_ Endymion thought, barely resisting the urge to drag a hand through his thick black hair. How does one extract oneself from a trap of one's own making? He hadn't been to one of his aunts' parties in the last century, and he wasn't about to start now. Then Helios tilted his head upward, turning the power of his brilliant amber-colored eyes on him.

"You'll be there, won't you Endy?" he asked in that deceptively innocent voice of his.

And just like that, the decision was taken out of his hand. Helios was a sullen menace when he didn't get what he wanted. Endymion found it hard to refuse the youth anything. He wondered if that was how human parents felt about their children. "I'll try."

"Great," Helios deigned him with a wide grin. "I'll stop by the penthouse and we can go together." And so, Endymion was trapped.

If Endymion didn't know any better, he'd think the two of them were conspiring against him. The task of getting him to loup-garou functions was Sapphire's responsibility. His Second could get him to attend certain events, but getting him to parties was a battle of wills Endymion always won. He had to admit, using his greatest weakness against him was certainly a nice stroke. His body straightened from its sprawl. He grinned wolfishly as his aunt, all sharp teeth and tinged with a hint of malice —a warning of a something unnamable, untamable, just beneath the surface. As much as Endymion adored her, she was still a part of Council. In his eyes, Council was just as bad as having an actual enemy.

She must have sensed the danger behind his smile because she turned to Helios and promptly dismissed him. "I'm sure Endymion didn't come here just to hear about the upcoming celebration."

Endymion only idly raised an eyebrow in reply.

"I'm sure you'd do a great job helping the children pick out the flowers."

Helios looked between the two adults in mild confusion, a little upset at the sudden dismissal; he gathered the younger children and did as he was told.

When they were certain Helios and the children were out of earshot, his aunt turned sober grey eyes on Endymion. He didn't even bother to flinch at the mild accusation they held. He stared her down with hardened orbs of blue. In this moment, he refused to regard her as anything other than a potential threat.

The air grew thick with tension, heavy with killing intent. It fell over her like a stifling blanket. She found that she couldn't breathe properly; it was as if his will was sucking all the oxygen from her lungs, even with her head lowered in submission.

Endymion didn't take her submission at face value. She was Council; they'd do anything to save their skin. And she should have known that he didn't trust any Council members alone with Helios. Actions he knew, spoke louder than words. Trying to warn her with words would be a waste of his time. He'd already made his point clear years ago when he'd killed the Beta who had previously held her position as Council member.

It was only moments later, when he was sure that she'd gotten his warning, did he slowly allowed oxygen back into her lungs, the threat of asphyxiation still in his icy blue eyes.

Gasping for air, she knew he wouldn't think twice about killing her. When her coughing fit was over and her body had recuperated, she cleared her throat and broke the tense silence. "Why are you here?"

"There's currently an investigation."

A glimmer of emotion flickered across her face. "Who did you kill?"

Endymion regarded her with a sardonic half-smile, "No one lately."

"Does this have anything with the recent murder on the news?"

Endymion's shoulders lazily shrugged in response. "MID wants the Council's aid in catching this rogue."

She frowned in concern. "Is it one of ours?"

"No, but I'm sure it's a loup-garou from this area."

"They have the Council's permission then," she stated in a firm tone that told Endymion she had entered Council member mode. "Our pack cannot be suspected of this crime and by cooperating, I'm sure we'll erase ourselves as suspects." She paused, not sure how to phrase her next question. "Are you willing to do this?"

His eyes hardened once more as he coolly asked, "Is there anyone better at catching a Berserker than I?"

She had no answer for his question.

"I want you to invite all the newly turned wolves from every pack to this celebration. Bring me all the information you have on them. Don't leave anything out." He stated firmly, tone broking no disobedience, "If the other packs give you trouble, let them know it was I who requested their presence."

She nodded her understanding. She had work to do.

* * *

"I've been trying to calculate the lapse of time between each murder and have been trying to create a reasonable time table that your suspect is likely following."

Serena was standing behind Amy as the naiad's fingers flew over the keys of her keyboard. Raye was perched on the edge of the desk with a pen in hand and notepad turned to a fresh, clean page.

"Using some of the data you gave me, there's a distinct possibility that your suspect's following some weird version of the lunar calendar."

Serena eyed Raye over Amy's bent head. So Detective Knight had had the right idea about the lunar cycle, but Serena had a feeling their guy wasn't going to wait for a new moon to start looking for prey. "If this guy's killing by the lunar calendar, we don't have a lot of time."

The raven-haired psychic quickly glanced at the data on Amy's screen. "You're right. We've already wasted three of our twenty-eight days."

Serena took another look at the calendar Amy had produced. "We don't have a lot of time to catch him. For all we know, he's _already_ picked out his next victim."

Amy's eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. "You guys aren't listening to me; I said _some_ form of the lunar calendar. He isn't exactly following the moon cycle."

"Then what is he doing?"

Amy sighed in frustration, "That's what I've been trying to figure out. Give me a couple more days and I'll have something for you. In the mean time, this is the schedule he's using. Maybe the loup-garou the Council's sending us will have some idea of what this guy's doing."

While Amy was printing them a copy, Serena's cell phone rang. She frowned slightly. They still had footage to look through from the security tapes Setsuna had managed to get for them. She hoped it wasn't something important. "Fairchild speaking."

"Serena, please report to my office," was the curt reply from the other line. The line went dead. Raye graced Serena with a raised eyebrow.

Serena responded with a frown. "Setsuna wants to see me."

"Did she say what she wanted?"

Serena's frown deepened, "No, she didn't."

"Well, get going. Don't want to keep her waiting. Cruel and unusual punishments, remember?"

Serena swiftly made her way to Setsuna's office. She knew she hadn't done anything spectacularly stupid this past week. Other than the incident involving her getting her ass kicked by the grizzly, she hadn't done anything to mess with this new case.

Her every step was filled with trepidation as she headed into the office, praying to any and all gods that were watching that she wasn't being pulled off the case. After closing the door behind her, she settled herself in the only empty chair in her boss's office, trying her best not to appear as uncomfortable as she felt. Damn her prescience, why hadn't it warned her that something bad was going to happen today?

Setsuna leaned back in her black leather chair and regarded Serena in silence. Despite herself, Serena felt prickles of apprehension crawl up her spine. She looked at the moment to be extremely discomfited.

Setsuna wasted no time with nonsensical chatter. "I understand you're currently having trouble locating a witness?"

Serena mentally sighed in relief. "Yes, Hailey Templeton[2]."

"I must warn you that she and her family have been relocated to a new state for their own protection."

Serena nodded in comprehension.

Setsuna continued once she'd been assured that Serena understood the delicateness of the current situation. "I'm currently working on getting you permission to interview the witness."

Well, that was good to hear, as far as Serena was concerned. And here she'd thought Setsuna was going to rip her a new one in her subtle psychologically sneaky way. Serena got up to leave, being sure that she'd been dismissed.

Setsuna waved her to sit back down. "If I do manage to get you permission, you'll be leaving in a week."

Serena nodded in comprehension. "Can I go now?"

The older woman smirked, "I thought you'd like an update on the gun racketeering case."

Serena nodded.

"Jupiter and Poseidon haven't lost the trail. I'd give them a week or two before they finally catch up with them."

Serena sighed; well at least someone was going to catch those bastards. "That's good to hear."

"I thought you'd say so."

The blonde resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Of course Setsuna would find a way to slyly gloat over her decision to give Serena's case to someone else. The blonde wasn't buying it.

* * *

Sitting at a café right across from the library, he had a perfect view of all the incoming patrons and the passersby bustling along the sidewalk. He casually checked his watch; she'd be leaving the library in ten minutes. He brought his cup of decaf to his lips and took a tentative sip, all the while surveying the current patrons.

Usually he found them in clubs, clad in skin tight clothing, lips decorated in come-hither red, and eyes full of yearning, souls searching for something to fill the emptiness. It was an image that went completely against who they were come daylight: women who were in control of their emotions, who lived life for the sake of Love— so much like Her and yet not. He hadn't expected the library to be such a perfect hunting ground.

He'd first seen her at club _Scion_, his next try at finding Her. She, like all the others, had been deceitful in her carelessness. Oblivious in her awareness— she hadn't spotted the real predator who'd been watching her for half the night. He'd had to follow her for days, discretely of course, just to make sure that she would do. He didn't want to scare her off, not before he had the chance to see if she was just like Her.

He took another glance at his watch: it was time; she'd be leaving in a minute or so. Taking another sip of his coffee, he left his table heading for the exit. A bell chimed as he exited the small café.

He momentarily felt the urge to scamper back into the tranquility of the café as pedestrians flooded him on both sides. It only took him a second to brush off the feeling of being stifled alive, before he headed for the library. Closing his eyes, his head tilted up to the sky. He inhaled, his senses filling with the scent of humanity. He hated it, it smelled nothing like Her. His eyes narrowed at the bright blue sky, a few small puffs of white lingered at the edges of the horizon. It reminded him too much of her sky blue eyes— a color that haunted him in his dreams. His prey was near.

He knew at exactly what time she'd round the corner. Bumping into her was only part of the plan, winning her name, a smile, a date: that's what he was after.

Her head was down as she stuffed books and folders into an already brimming backpack. He moved in front of her and not watching where she was going, she crashed into him. His arms wrapped around her waist as he saved her from falling unto the ground. Her backpack escaped from her shoulder, books and papers spilled all over the dirtied cement of the sidewalk.

Winded, she looked up to thank her savior. She couldn't believe her eyes, he was beautiful.

His eyes were captured by her blue eyes. He knew they'd be a shade closer to Hers, but never this much: it felt as if he was looking into Her eyes again. He'd had the right idea about choosing this one.

His hands dropped from her waist. "I'm so sorry," he started, bending down to begin the process of recollecting her belongings.

"I'm the one who should be sorry," she replied. He sounded so sincere, she felt bad about bumping into him. But he was so hot, she didn't regret it.

"I'm so clumsy," she gushed as she bent down to help him. Her hand accidentally brushed his as they reached for the same notebook. A foreboding chill snaked up her spine. For a moment, she thought she'd be sucked into a premonition. Like the guy didn't have enough reasons to think she was weird. She brushed off the feeling.

"I haven't had a klutz attack in years," she continued, blushing as she surreptitiously glanced at him from beneath her lashes.

"It's all right," he stated as he helped her stuff her belongings back into her backpack, "I have a friend who's a total klutz. I've grown used to random females falling into my arms."

"I hope I'm not that random," she answered with a laugh.

Chuckling in response, he helped her to her feet. "No you certainly aren't."

Standing on her own and her body so close to his, he could almost imagine that it was Her. There was a slight difference in height, but that could be overlooked. Just as he would overlook the fact that she wasn't really Her. But she was so much like Her, that was all that mattered. There was always a difference between Them and Her.

"I'm Andrea, by the way." At once shy and confident as she introduced herself, sticking out a well-manicured hand to be shaken.

"It's been a pleasure bumping into you, Andrea," he replied with a genuine smile. She succumbed to him like all the others. All it took was an open smile and a handsome face.

He never liked easy prey, but she'd do. He needed Her.

* * *

**AN**: Erm. Sorry it took me so long to get this up. For a minute there, I almost turned this chapter into an angst festXD Sere needs something to distract her from all this(::cough::likefinallymeetingendy::cough::). I wanted to make the killer attractive to his chosen victims, but I don't think I succeeded-_- He came off as a little bit too sympathetic to me…or will be…sooner or later. I blame Sylar for this!

[1] Red roses that are the color of Carmine red are "false" roses. The color means 'deceitful desire.'

[2] I have no idea what Hotaru's dub name is, but know that I probably wouldn't like it if I tried to search for it. So in this story, she is Hailey Templeton.

Okay, I was having the hardest time coming up with names for the packs. And since there's like 10 packs that are part of council, I was torn. It got to the point I was thinking about naming the packs after elements on the periodic table. Yes, that bad. But it occurred to me, there are plenty of moon gods and goddesses from all over the world, right? They'd make great pack names. I didn't want to be obvious about the names either. You'd all recognize the Greek and Roman names, right? So erm…yeah…hooray for diversity and such!

Here are the pack names. You won't be introduced to all the members from these packs, but you will meet some but not all loup-garou from these packs. They aren't that important, but their pack names are. But if ya'll are adamant about it, I'll sneak them all in somehow.

_Suen_—Nanna/Sin/Suen is a moon god from ancient Mesopotamia. His many names are from Akkadian, Arabian (this is before Allah was recognized as the one true God), and Babylonian mythology. Suen is his Sumerian name.

_Metztli_—Metztli is a god from Aztec mythology. I wanted to use Coyolxauhqui (she's a moon goddess), but I'm pretty no one would know how to pronounce her name.

_Ilazki_—is the Basque goddess of the moon. She is also a goddess of light and shines in the darkness for dead souls (this strangely reminds me of the goddess Hecate).

_Bendis_—she is a Thracian moon goddess and a goddess of the Hunt (like Artemis).

_Anumati_—she's the moon goddess in Hinduism. Her 'specialty' was intellect, spirituality, children, and wealth.

_Thoth_—he's Ma'at's consort and an Egyptian god of the moon, logic, writing, and magic. He's also involved in the judging on souls in the underworld and is the voice of Ra.

_Máni-Hati_—in Norse mythology, Mani is a moon god and in a chariot pulls the moon behind him. He is chased by Hati, who is a wolf. When Hati finally does catch up with Mani, he'll swallow him whole and this will signal the beginning of Ragnarok.

_Morrigan_—she's a Celtic moon goddess. Well, she's a lot of things according to Wiccans. And like Hecate, she has a Crone aspect to her as well as a light. She's sometimes considered to be the Queen of the Faeries. Can't forget the fact that she's also a great warrior on the battlefields.

_Pandeia_—she's the offspring of Selene and Zeus. It's likely that she was a moon goddess, though it's clear she's not one of the fifty daughters Selene bore for Endymion.

_Mene_—Mene is Selene's other name.

_Last Edited Nov.20, 2009_


	6. Of the Unseen

**An**: Wanted to get this out of the way. Someone emailed me about Endymion going Darth Vader on his aunt. Um, no…I think I mentioned something about shifters being able to exert their will on others (in order to intimidate or paralyze their prey) in the first chapter when Serena was fighting one of the werebears.

So yeah, no Jedi mind tricks. Now, unto the good stuffXD

* * *

**Chapter Six: Of the Unseen**

As closely as they were standing, it was easy for Serena to feel Raye's body stiffen alongside hers. She was instantly on alert, her eyes roaming around the busy airport terminal, all the while assessing the people closest to them, trying to spot the source of her partner's discomfort.

The moment Raye's narrowed amethyst eyes swiveled to glare into her blue ones Serena knew exactly who the psychic had spotted. She quickly lowered her eyes, which only made her seem guiltier than she actually was. She would have to find a way to thank Setsuna for putting her in such an awkward situation.

"You _knew_ he was coming," Raye hissed accusingly as they both watched the current bane of her existence make his way through a crowd of people.

Stuffing her hands into her coat pockets, Serena answered coolly, "Of course not." It was a lie, of course. After she'd called Setsuna earlier in the week to report on their lack of progress (not to mention access) to their one and only witness, Serena had suspected that the woman would be sending in some backup. Whether they needed it or not hadn't been the issue, getting the interview before the week was out was their top priority.

Serena was itching to get this done and over with. This should have been accomplished on the first day they'd arrived. Now that she thought about it, Setsuna sending Detective Knight to the rescue wasn't all that surprising. He was a telepath after all. "I'm sure there's a reason why Setsuna felt it was to our advantage that he be present when we finally get the chance to interview our witness."

"That's _if_ we ever get the chance," Raye peevishly muttered.

"I hear you," Serena replied sympathetically.

They'd been stuck in the middle of Nowhere, Maine, staying at a crappy motel for the past week. Each time they'd gone to the Sheriff's police department enquiring about their witness, they'd been brushed off with one excuse after another. It was enough to make the most optimistic of persons turn into a brooding cynic. Serena was starting to think that it was all one big conspiracy to keep them from finding their killer. Their witness was the only person who had an idea of what their suspect looked like. And since they were assuming that their suspect stuck to the same ritual when it came to killing his victims, talking to this witness was monumental to solving their case and catching their serial killer. Their case's fate hanged in the balance and only one small child could save them. It was enough to make Serena want to pull all her hair out from her skull.

When Detective Knight was within shouting distance, Serena couldn't help but smile when Raye's icy glared turned on the man. "Detective," she waved him over, just in case he hadn't spotted them, "How was your flight?"

He gave Raye a polite nod before answering Serena with a shrug. "It was the same as any other flight."

Raye was eyeing his duffle bag. "No luggage?"

They engaged in what Serena liked to think was an intense staring contest, before he answered, "It won't be necessary."

"That's very presumptuous of you, detective."

"Is it now?"

Raye shrugged nonchalantly, though Serena could tell she was anything but. "We've been here for almost a week with little success in actually meeting our witness. What makes you think you'll succeed?"

He shrugged before smugly replying, "Just a hunch."

Was he implying that they were less than efficient at doing their job? Serena mentally frowned at him, knowing that one way or another, he would sense her displeasure. "Come on, we're parked right outside."

He shouldered the duffle bag and they wordlessly made their way toward the parking lot. There was a pink slip of paper tucked under one of the windshield wipers of their rented sedan. Serena groaned as she took it from its holding place.

"You forgot to feed the meter, didn't you?" Raye asked accusingly.

"Did to!" Serena exclaimed, "You saw me put the quarters in!" This was so _unfair_. They were MID, why the hell were they being fined?

"If I'd been driving," Raye started, "this wouldn't have happened."

"I'm _not_ for paying this," Serena muttered darkly as she crumpled the piece of paper. When she made to throw it away, Raye grabbed her arm.

"Give me that," she snapped. Serena bit her lip before opening her hand and let Raye extract the crumpled parking ticket. "You're not allowed to litter in my presence," Raye muttered before shoving the parking ticket into her jacket pocket. It was her only explanation for her weird behavior.

Rolling her eyes, Serena unlocked the trunk. She waited for the detective to throw his luggage in there before heading for the driver side door. When she was sure that everyone was settled in, Serena put the car into drive and turned in the direction of the Sheriff's department.

The car was silent for a while before Raye bluntly asked, "Why are you here?"

There was no question as to whom she was addressing. The detective calmly replied, "To help you with interviewing a witness."

"And you're going to help us how exactly?" Raye asked condescendingly.

Irritated, Serena frowned at her before returning her eyes to the road. "He's a telepath, Raye."

Shocked, Raye blinked at her before turning to face Jared, who was sitting in the back seat. "A telepath, huh?" she asked with a sneer, "I don't see why anyone would trust you enough to let you into their minds."

"And you say this while blatantly shoving your thoughts into my mind? I'd learn a little bit of self-control if I were you, Agent Hino," Jared icily replied.

"Do you really want to talk about control, detective or do you prefer _Agent_ Knight?" There was a challenge in her voice that Serena didn't like. Nope, she didn't like this situation at all. Setsuna was going to pay big time for making her have to play the role of mediator.

"Settle down you two," Serena exclaimed, turning to let Jared become acquainted with her Killer Glare. Jared decided to change the subject, while Raye ignored them both, turning to face her window. Sighing, Serena decided it was going to be a long day.

* * *

Half an hour later, standing in the Sheriff's office, she decided she'd been right.

"I thought we had an agreement Sheriff," Raye was saying.

"What's the problem this time?" Serena asked. She could feel a headache coming on.

"The problem," the sheriff replied just as annoyed by the situation as they were, "is that she _can't_ come down here to be interviewed."

"Whoever said anything about her coming down here?" Raye asked through clenched teeth. "Why can't we just interview her at _home_?"

The other agent looked about ready to strangle something and Serena shared in her sentiment. The file Setsuna had given them hadn't had any information on their witness's current address. If it had, they wouldn't have been stuck asking the locals for help. Damn it, she didn't want to be stuck here for another week just because some kid didn't feel like talking to them. And the parents weren't being that helpful either.

"You can get us to her residence?" Detective Knight interjected.

"Of course I can." The sheriff looked startled by the question, but continued in a grave voice, "But I can't guarantee that her parents will let you talk to her. Hailey's not that healthy."

Serena graced him with an enquiring eyebrow. The child wasn't healthy? Did Setsuna know this? And if she did, why hadn't she included it in the report she'd given to them before they had left to interview their witness. But it sure explained why the parents were being iffy about letting them see her.

"We understand the delicateness of the situation," Raye promptly replied, "but we need this interview."

The sheriff sighed heavily, scratching his balding scalp with one hand. "All right, but don't say I didn't warn you."

"We understand."

* * *

Hours later, Serena pulled the car up in front of the dirt path that would lead to the Templeton residence, which was just on the edge of Hancock County[1]. They had been following the deputy that the sheriff had assigned to guide them to their witness's home for hours. And during that time, all that they had been able to see was greenery and the occasional farm house.

Serena waited until the deputy was making his way toward their car before excitedly declaring, "It's show time."

Raye rolled her eyes at her excitement. There was still the matter of actually being _allowed_ to talk to their witness.

Serena grinned at Raye and said, "I can't wait to talk to this kid!"

When the deputy knocked on the driver side window to signal that they should get out too, Serena beamed an exuberant smile at Raye. The psychic rolled her eyes once more before getting out of the passenger seat. Jared was quick to follow.

"The house is just right up this path," the deputy announced when they all gathered around him.

Serena nodded, pretty confident that the deputy knew what he was talking about. He'd managed to get them here in one piece and that's all that mattered. They followed him up the path, under a vine-covered arbor and through a flower garden before they spotted the house.

"This is it," the deputy unnecessarily announced when they reached the Templeton's place of residence.

Serena had to pause to take in the surroundings. The Templeton's home was a two-storey colonial surrounded by neatly trimmed shrubbery and immaculately cut grass and flowers. She didn't know what it was about these rural communities, but she found this place peaceful, if not a little disturbing. MID agent or not, this wasn't the type of place she'd like to be left alone in or live in. The quietness of living in such an isolated area was sure to drive her crazy.

As they made their way up the porch steps, Serena eyed the front door with determination blazing in her eyes. "Let's do this."

Serena raised her hand and knocked on the door. When no one answered, she fidgeted for a second before knocking again. As the seconds passed and no one came to answer, Serena threw Raye a confused look. The psychic shrugged in reply. As Serena raised her hand to knock a third, the door flew open to reveal a disgruntled blond man.

Lowering her hand, Serena examined the man standing in front of her. He was tall, give or take six feet with cropped sandy blond hair and crisp green eyes. And those cold green eyes were watching them blankly.

"What do you want?" he asked in a slightly husky voice.

The agents instinctively reached for their IDs, the man inspected their badges with narrowed eyes.

"I thought we'd gone over this already," he told the deputy who'd served as their guide.

The deputy in turn raised his hands in surrender. "It's not my fault. They wanted to come see Hailey."

"Hailey isn't up for a visit," he frigidly informed them, as his hand, gripping the doorknob moved to close the door in their faces.

Raye inserted a foot in the door before it closed. "We understand that this might not be the best time to come for a visit, but we need her help."

Serena nodded, "We're running out of time and she has information that we believe will help us solve our case."

He stared at them with something akin to bitterness coloring his expression, "I'm sorry to have to inform you that you've wasted your time coming out here. Hailey is in no condition to help anyone. I'd suggest you leave."

A little desperate at this point, Serena opened her mouth to plead with the man. If she had to resort to threatening the man, so be it. All they needed was to see the girl for just a few minutes, nothing more. The appearance of a statuesque woman materializing within the crack of the doorway saved her the trouble.

She gave them an appraising look before turning to the man, "Alex, who are they?"

"MID," he replied, "They've come to see Hailey."

Nodding at the deputy, the woman smiled tiredly at the agents, "We knew sooner or later you'd be stopping by."

She opened the door, allowing them to enter the house, while the man whom Serena assumed was Mr. Templeton protested. When the front door shut firmly behind them, Serena tried her best to not look as relieved as she felt. Finally, they were getting somewhere.

"I'm Agent Fairchild and this is Agent Hino and Detective Knight from MID. You must be Michelle Templeton and this must be your husband, Alex Templeton?"

"Michelle is fine," she answered and Serena watched as her stiffened posture relaxed. "I'm sorry," she sighed, "It's been a hectic week. Hailey hasn't been feeling well."

Serena nodded compassionately as the group followed Michelle who'd been drifting toward a spacious room just off the hallway. The walls were decorated with an assortment of family pictures while a pile of children's novels and DVD's lay in a nearby corner. She guided them to a large beige sofa and they sat attentively while the deputy remained standing.

"Can I get you anything?" she asked once she was sure that they were settled. Alex Templeton, who was standing beside his wife's chair in turn scowled at them.

"No thank you," Raye softly interjected. "We were wondering, is it all right if we tried to talk to Hailey today?"

Michelle nodded her consent, her sad eyes staring at her entwined hands. "It's just that Hailey has her off days," she remarked, sighing once again, "You can try and talk to her. Today's been relatively quiet."

The agents nodded in unison. "We understand," Detective Knight said, "All we want is a chance to talk to her."

Eyeing the doorway and Mr. Templeton, Serena wasn't sure what they should do, not with the way Alex Templeton was glaring at them.

Michelle nodded her compliance once again, "Her room's right down the hall."

The agents stood as one, Serena and Detective Knight made a move for the doorway. Alex Templeton moved to stand in front of the doorway, effectively blocking their exit. There was ice in his eyes as he tried to stare them down, or was he still trying to intimidate them? Serena didn't care; they were seeing that girl one way or another. She gave him her own version of an icy glare. "Get out of the way, Mr. Templeton."

Straightening, he crossed his arms against his chest before saying, "I'm afraid interviewing her alone is impossible. We want to be present while you're conducting this _interview_."

The tension in the room was palpable as Serena mutely regarded him. She had to remind herself that the parents were just being concerned about the safety of their offspring and that harming the man without him outright trying to attack her wouldn't be any help in this situation. She looked to Raye and the detective, an unasked question in her eyes. Raye frowned in response while the detective shrugged. That being the only response Serena saw that she would get, she shrugged as well. "I don't see why that should be a problem. Please lead the way."

Leaving the living room, the group noiselessly made their way down the hallway. They stopped as one upon reaching the closed door that led to Hailey Templeton's room. Her father stared at the agents with resignation in his eyes before unlocking the door.

Decorated a cheerful lavender with shelves of tidily arranged toys and books, the room looked like every child's dream. The only thing that seemed out of place was the mounting feeling that something wasn't _right_. The moment she had entered the room, Serena felt it: the touch of something that covered the entirety of her body making everything _tingle_. It was an unnerving feeling.

Turning her attention to the large bed at the center of the room, Serena eyed their witness curiously. The girl was pale, was her first impression. Pale and fragile looking, she added after a second look over. The girl was sitting up, surrounded by mounds of pillows. She resembled a dark little china doll, face blank and eyes devoid of emotion. The fact that her hair was of a darker color only exaggerated the bruising circles under her eyes.

Serena approached their witness with something akin to caution. After all, they still didn't know what was wrong with the kid and who knew what triggered her "bad days." Hailey was turned toward her, watching her approach with blank eyes.

"I'm Serena and these," she turned to point at the detective and Raye, who were currently watching her with unreadable eyes, "are my friends Jared and Raye. Your mom told us you haven't been feeling well. Are you up to talking?"

When she got no response just a continuous stare, she looked back to the parents. Alex Templeton was standing next to his wife, watching the proceeding with clearly pained eyes. Squaring her shoulders, Serena moved closer to the bed, vowing to get an answer out of the kid one way or another.

"Don't touch her," she could hear someone shouting in the background. But it was already too late. Serena instantly felt the throbbing in her head. The ache grew ten-fold until she was certain that her head was going to explode.

Hailey's hand was clutching hers and for the life of her, Serena couldn't find the will to _let go_. The blanket of psychic energy around her seemed to have tripled, muddling her thoughts and making it hard to concentrate. She closed her eyes, tried to count backwards, but found she couldn't get past the number six. Opening her eyes, Serena felt panic start to set in, her vision darkened to the point where she couldn't make out her surroundings, and though she knew that everyone was still in the room it was hard for her not to feel alone.

She turned toward the one psychic presence that seemed to be a guide in the increasing fog. "Raye," she breathed, reaching out to the other psychic. She left her knees collapsing under her weight; it was the only warning that she got before the throbbing in her mind increased its tempo until everything around her was engulfed in a tidal wave of blackness.

* * *

Jared watched as both psychics crumpled, catching Hino's falling body before it hit the ground. He ignored the tingling sensation that shot through his arm and brought her body closer to his. _'Really, did these psychics never learn?'_ he thought in exasperation before turning to look at the others still left standing in the room. "You need to leave," he calmly announced.

Alex Templeton moved as if to come closer to the bed.

He narrowed his eyes before saying, "If you want me to help your daughter, I suggest you leave." The parents still continued to hesitate. "_Now_," he added with a mental push. It took moments for them to leave.

Placing his burden on the chair beside the bed, Jared surveyed the scene. This was something he'd never seen before. Though it'd been a stupid idea, he understood Fairchild's need to reach out to the other psychic. Dumb, but understandable. He quickly scanned to see if there had been any permanent physical injury or damage to their psyche. When he was sure that they'd both be fine, he turned back to the culprit. Staring at the little girl on the bed, whose hand still held Fairchild's, he knew for certain, the child was one day going to be a powerful empath. That's if and only if he managed to get passed her mental shields without harming her any further. She'd be useless to anyone if she remained this way.

After untangling their hands, he took hold of Hailey's, squeezing lightly while he batted away the lure of her emotions. Closing his eyes, he carefully prodded at the cracks in her mental shield. When he found a suitable one, he gently slipped in. One by one the layers of darkness silently slid away. He was slowly, but surely descending down into the infinite darkness of Hailey's inner self. He came to an abrupt stop. The landscape around him was still dark, but he knew that she was here, was aware of his intruding presence.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he murmured, "I'm here to help." Tentatively, the darkness began to lighten until he spotted her small form. She was sitting with her arms wrapped around her knees, body hunched over, rocking to and fro. He cautiously approached, crouching before her, but not invading her space. "My name is Jared," he started. "I'm gonna help you get better."

Silence was the only response. At first, he wasn't sure whether or not she'd heard him, but gradually the rocking came to a halt. She eventually raised her head. Indigo eyes peeked out at him. She assessed him with a trace of curiosity before nodding to herself. _'She must have decided that I'm safe,'_ he thought with a wry grin. He held out a hand.

She hesitantly shook it before shyly replying, "I'm Hailey."

His grin widened, "It's nice to meet you Hailey."

She timidly smiled back.

Cocking his head to the side, he asked, "Do you know how long you've been here?" She shook her head. Patting her hand reassuringly, he deliberated over how to continue on with his interrogation. He had to find out what happened that night, but if she wasn't aware of the passage of time, it just might be that she'd repressed the memory. And if she'd repressed the memory, he'd have to go rummaging through her mind, which might in the end harm her. He'd have to knock her unconscious. But first, he'd have to find out exactly what she remembered.

"Do you remember Theresa?" he tentatively asked. She flinched at the name, her body immediately curling in on itself. _'Okay so that answers that question,'_ he thought with a wince. He gently ran a hand down her back, feeling it tremble beneath his palm. "It's okay Hailey. It's over. You're okay." He repeated, murmuring reassurances until the trembling stopped.

Mulling over his next step, he frowned. He'd have to try again. If that didn't work, he'd go to plan B. "Do you remember what happened to Theresa?"

Shaking her head vehemently, she whispered, "Something bad happened. Hurt a lot."

"Did you see what happened?" he asked still running a comforting hand down her back.

She paused, mulling over the question. "Don't remember." She clutched at her head. "_Hurts_ when I try to."

He nodded in reply. She's inadvertently made his choice for him. Patting her back one last time, he gently drew her into unconsciousness. If there was anything relevant in her memories, he'd find it. Looking down at her slumped over figure, he made another decision: she'd never feel the pain of that memory again.

* * *

'_Home sweet home,'_ Serena thought blissfully as she burrowed into the warmth of her bed. God, how she'd missed her bed! Hugging a pillow to her chest, she thought back on her visit to Maine. After waking up from whatever it was that Hailey had done to her —and what she'd inadvertently done to Raye, Serena had found herself in the Templeton's living room with Raye still soundly unconscious next to her— though she hadn't stayed that way. After Jared had shown them the garnered pieces of that "corrupted" memory, they'd bid an awake —if slightly confused —Hailey and parents (whom Serena had learned were both female) good-bye. One thing they knew for sure, Hailey had hurt their killer on the psychic plane before he'd gotten away, which was probably why it had been the messiest of the crime scenes. Serena unconsciously shivered at the memory of the inhuman scream of pain. It still felt as if a psi-bomb had gone off in her brain. To be so young and still have that amount of power…

She was brought out of her reverie by the sound of her bedroom door opening. She rolled onto her back just in time to see Sammy's head pop in through the narrow opening. His eyes were closed as he yelled, "Are you decent?"

Crossing her arms over her chest, Serena asked with a pout, "How'd you manage to get past the wards?"

Grinning he opened his eyes and responded with a question of his own, "Are you forgetting that I'm a wizard?"

Rolling her eyes, Serena got out from under the comforter. "Are you trying to tell me you broke through Luna's wards on your own?"

Shrugging he moved further into the room, "Well, she _is_ my favorite aunt. You didn't think she'd let her wards set me on fire, do you?" Looking at Serena's skeptical expression he added, "All right, so she gave me the key."

"Thought so," she answered with a smile. "So what are you doing here?"

He eyed her suspiciously, "Did you forget about our date?"

She groaned before replying, "Don't tell me it's _this_ Saturday?"

"You forgot?" he asked in a mocking hurt voice, "After I went to the trouble of buying you a fancy dress with shoes and accessories?"

She frowned at him, "I thought it was going to be casual."

"'Pears not, Esther called about a change in venue. It was supposed to be this small gathering with only her pack, but their Council decided to hold their own shindig and they're into fancy stuff. So everyone who's been invited has to be dressed to impress." He frowned, "Well, at least that's what I gathered from what she was saying. God, she's so annoying."

"You're annoying."

He waved off her complaint, "Whatever. Stuff's out in the living room."

Serena sighed in reply. This was turning out to be more trouble than she'd thought. She didn't even know Esther that well. God, if this turned out like the last party her cousin Pandia[2] had invited her to, she wouldn't be responsible for any resulting loss of body parts. _'Those horny idiots,'_ she thought sourly. She hated getting hit on by werecats. They just wouldn't take no for an answer. "You'd better appreciate this," she muttered on her way out.

* * *

Serena scooped a champagne flute from the tray of a passing waiter. With her other hand safely tucked within Sammy's strong grasp, she slid deeper into the chatting crowd of elegantly clad people. Taking a sip of her drink she studied Luna, whom Sammy had managed to lure into coming with them, over the rim of her champagne glass. Clad in a dark violet evening gown with her curly hair styled in a chic coiffure, she didn't look anywhere near her forty-five years of age.

"Are you still angry about coming?" she asked the older woman.

Luna wrinkled her nose in distaste. "You know I can't stand Bane."

Grinning, Sammy laid his head on her shoulder, "I'm glad you love me enough to brave coming into the lion's den."

Snorting in amusement, Luna ruffled his hair. "You're such a brat."

Serena couldn't help but add, "Sammy will save us from the big bad wolves."

Luna raised an eyebrow, "Are we talking about the same guy who tried to banish Artemis and ended up summoning a ghoul instead?"

"Hey!" Sammy cried in protest, "I was only seven! And anyway, I'm not the one who can't tell the difference between poison hemlock and caraway."

Serena remembered this incident well. It was one of the primary reasons why she'd never be anything above a mediocre Witch. And really, there was no way she'd tell Sammy she'd been charged with finding some Fool's Parsley.[3] He'd never let her live it down. Choosing not to fall for his taunting, Serena asked, "How are we supposed to find Esther in this mess?"

Sammy lifted his head from Luna's shoulder long enough to shrug at his sister. "Dunno. She mostly wanted us here to meet her mate."

"Anterus[4], right?"

"Sounds about right."

Frowning, Luna asked, "Isn't he that guy who's always in those gossip rags?"

Luna was probably right, Serena decided. She'd seen the pictures. Anterus and his twin brother Eros were each something of a celebrity, appearing in gossip columns and magazines, getting their picture snapped with actresses, models, and the odd politicians or business tycoons. It puzzled her how shy Esther of all people had managed to become mated to such a playboy. "It doesn't matter," she affirmed, "He's family now and we're going to have to tolerate him." Esther was his mate and that was all there was to it.

Luna eyed her tactfully from under her lashes, "Look at you, being all mature."

"I try."

Rolling his eyes, Sammy offered Luna his other arm, "C'mon, let's go find her before she accuses us of not showing up at all."

* * *

Endymion eyed the ballroom with an expression of restless boredom. He remained unmoved by the interested glances thrown his way. The scent of gin, caviar, and packed humanity teased his senses. The light from the dozen chandeliers sparkled over designer gowns and black tuxedoes and the air echoed with laughter and conversation. With his super hearing, it was easy to pick up the dozens of conversations going on around him over the hum of the orchestra.

The night hadn't turned out to be as much as a waste of time as he'd thought it would be. With his anonymity somewhat intact, it had been easy to insert himself into conversation with the newly turned wolves whose name and faces he had memorized. Of the fifty that had been turned this month, thirty-five had checked out, the others, he hadn't managed to encounter just yet.

Sensing a familiar scent approaching him, he turned to see one of his cousins shouldering through the crowd. It was hard to miss Harmony's tall, statuesque form. As a grey wolf, he respected her agility and cunning. She was one of the few people he could trust not to ever lie or deceive him. If he wasn't so averse to sharing the status of alpha, he might have considered her for the position of alpha female. She was more than strong enough for it. But then again, he knew exactly how he'd react to the implied status of being his equal. Only his true mate would hold that status and he had yet to scent her out. Either way, his pack members had yet to complain about the lack of female alpha.

Harmony[5] spotted him where he was standing by the double doors leading to one of the terraces and waved at him. Knowing that no good would come of it, he unhurriedly made his way toward her.

When he was within arms reach, she threw her arms around his neck and squeezed. He hugged her back, breathing in her familiar calming scent.

Tilting her head back, she pouted. "I wasn't sure I'd get to see you." Midnight blue eyes alight with mischief, she added, "I'm glad Helios managed to con you into coming."

Hands now at her waist, he groaned. "Why does everybody think he had to drag me here?"

"Because he usually has to?" she patted him on the shoulder. "It's okay," she drawled, "Everyone knows he has you on a tight leash."

"Is that anyway to talk to your alpha?" he asked her in mock seriousness.

Arching a dark brow, she asked, "Is it?"

Instead of answering, he offered her his arm, "Come take a walk with me."

Shrugging, she took his proffered arm.

Stroking her hand, he asked, "Noticed anything unusual while making your rounds?" Before she could open her mouth to complain about Eros once again (because really, she always complained about her siblings, _especially_ Eros), he added, "besides the usual suspects."

Huffing in indignation, she muttered, "I don't always complain about them. And no, everyone seems to be getting along just fine. Even the new ones from Máni-Hati aren't acting up. If I spot anything, I'll tell you."

He nodded in agreement. He froze on his next step. There it was. That _scent_. His body hardened in instant response. It wrapped around him and enticed him.

'_This can't be happening!'_ he thought with something akin to panic. The woman who was made to be his other half, his perfect match —the woman he was sure hadn't existed five minutes ago— was here. There was no denying it. No other scent had ever managed to do that to him, to his body. He wanted to sink his teeth into it. He wanted to eat her alive.

She was his. And she was here, somewhere in this crowded ballroom.

He narrowed his eyes and quickly scanned the crowd, taking everything in and allowing his inhuman senses to do their job.

His nostrils flared harshly as her scent crashed through him. Hunger raged within, faster than any pair of teeth or claws ever could, leaving his body pulsing with a sharp-edged, driving need to find her and bury himself deep within her. It was unlike anything he'd ever experienced before. A shudder racked through the length of his entire body, his skin flushing hot and cold as an unfamiliar burn began low in his belly.

He had to find her. Now.

'_Does he even realize that he's growling?'_ Harmony thought as she unabashedly stared at him. She had easily sensed the tensing of his body and was more than curious to know what had caused it. Endymion was known for his steely self-control. His face was usually unreadable, even when he was ready to rip someone's throat out. He didn't seem to remember where he was and she wasn't in any mood to find out what he'd do if she interrupted him from his trance.

* * *

Serena eyed Esther with mild amusement. The blonde woman standing across from her with a radiant smile lighting up her grey eyes couldn't be her timid, quieter than a mouse cousin Esther. She wondered if this was what finding your eternal someone did to you— changed you for the better. Esther seemed to bubble with unrepressed excitement. Her happiness must have been contagious because even Luna was smiling indulgently at the blonde. And most telling of all, she had yet to comment on the nature of Esther's mate.

"I'm so glad you're happy," Serena couldn't help but tell her.

Esther's smile got wider as Anterus nuzzled her neck. "So am I."

"How are you enjoying being a wolf?" Sammy asked.

Esther laughed before saying, "It's the best thing that's ever happened to me!"

Serena raised an eyebrow, "Do go on."

Esther pursed her lips in thought. "It's like all your senses get an extra kick. Your sight's clearer, your hearing sharper. And there's the speed and strength thing." She shrugged. "It took some getting used to, but with Ant and Endymion's help, the transition was a smooth one."

Serena frowned before addressing Anterus. "I thought you were a Mene wolf."

He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "My mom's a Mene wolf. I'm from Bendis."

Ah, that explained his happy-go-lucky attitude. The Bendis pack was well-known for its adrenalin junkies and great Hunters. And with their pack leader being a lupi, the other packs never messed with them and so most of the young wolves from Bendis hadn't been involved in the turf wars that plagued most of the other packs. Their young had remained ignorant and innocent. In their search for Esther, Serena had heard some great and terrible things about this Endymion. The one thing she was certain of was that his packmates greatly admired him and defended his reputation when things seemed to be getting out of hand. "I'm glad," Serena replied with a smile. "I've heard some great things about your Alpha."

Serena received two blinding smiles in return. "Yeah," Esther asserted, "He's a great guy. I don't think I would have made it through the Change without him."

Luna crossed her arms over her chest and scoffed. "You're a gealach gheal[6] Witch. You can survive anything."

"Too true," Esther answered with a laugh, "It's hard to be anything else."

"Serena."

Upon hearing her name, Serena turned and smiled when she spotted Sapphire. She quirked an eyebrow at him. "Well, I guess I should have expected to see you sooner or later."

He stepped maddeningly close until the lapels of his tux brushed against the bodice of her dress. "Yes," he murmured, "What I'm wondering is what you're doing here."

She tilted her head back and regarded him with twinkling cornflower blue eyes. "Don't you keep track of who's in your pack?"

He looked up and easily spotted the rest of her family. Luna was watching him through narrowed eyes, Sammy seemed curious as to who he was, and Esther and Anterus seemed amused by his sudden appearance.

"You know these two," Serena stated, pointing at Esther and Anterus. "This is my aunt Luna and my brother Sammy."

Luna ignored his proffered hand, and regarded him with open disdain. "Rest assured Serena, I've had the dubious honor of meeting this particular mutt."

"Luna-dear," he replied with a teasing smirk, "you wound me so. Have these years of acquaintanceship meant nothing to you?" Luna's upturned nose made him smile. He wrapped his arms about a startled Serena's shoulder and rested his chin on her head. "Well, at least Serena appreciates me."

"Let's hope Petz doesn't see you."

He shuddered, his arms still wrapped around her shoulders. "It's Cal I'm worried about."

"Then you'd better get going," Luna retorted, "It's not nice to keep your mate waiting."

"I know when I'm not wanted," he mock sighed before disentangling himself from Serena. "Just wanted you to know Sere, you have a meeting with Endymion bright and early Monday morning. Look for my email."

"Really?" Serena squealed. "I knew you'd come through for me!"

"Don't I always?"

* * *

'_I'm not leaving until I find her,'_ Endymion thought with the single-mindedness that usually overtook him when he was tracking prey. No sooner had he thought this, was her scent slammed into him so hard, he almost reeled in the aftermath. He spun in the direction where the strong scent originated from and found Sapphire. He took another tentative sniff, letting her unique scent of strawberry with a hint of vanilla, waft through him. Sapphire's familiar scent was right below it.

Something in him shifted at the thought. He found himself fighting back a growl. _This is Sapphire,_ he reminded the Beast. But the closer the other male came, the stronger her scent got. He bit back a curse. There was a reasonable explanation for this.

"Why do you smell of her," he found himself asking the other male, who in turn seemed befuddled by his accusation. "_Tell_ me." The increasing gruffness of his voice was a telltale sign that he was losing control. He had to find her and then get out of here. It was either that or be drowned in the heady scent of her.

Endymion felt Sapphire grip one of his shoulders firmly. It was meant to ground him, but had the opposite effect. His nostrils flared and he was hit by another wave of her scent.

"Endymion," he heard Sapphire mutter in that you'd-better-listen-to-me-or-else voice he'd been known to use on the juveniles, "You need to calm down and tell me what you need."

He tried not to breathe in. "You were just with someone." Taking a breath through clenched teeth, he added, "A female. Where is she?"

Sapphire's brows furrowed as he regarded him. Then it seemed as if something at last dawned on him. "Serena," he answered, "I was with Serena." Then he pushed at Endymion's shoulder, as if to guide his gaze. "And she's over there."

It seemed as if Fate had heard his plea and granted him a glimpse of her. He knew it was her, the instant he laid eyes on her. He probably wouldn't have guessed it was her had he not been fighting to stay somewhat clearheaded in the past fifteen minutes. There was no doubt that it was her.

She wore a dark blue gown that was doing a very good job at displaying her slender curves. In contrast to the cream of her slender shoulders, she wore her shimmering blonde hair piled a top her head like a crown, baring a tempting length of nape. He could just imagine pressing his lips there.

She angled her head, sending a curl of bright blonde hair gliding over the neckline of her bodice.

"And now," Sapphire stated calmly, "We have to go. There's a group of Alphas waiting to have a word with you."

The young man standing next to her, whispered something into her ear. She cocked her head to the side and turned her gaze in his direction. Blue eyes met and captured his across the ballroom. From where he was standing, Endymion could see that they were full of amusement. The connection broke and she returned to her conversation with the young man.

His eyes didn't want to leave her. Not now. Not _ever_.

A fierce possessiveness overtook him. It poured heat through his veins and his head was filled with the pulsing sound of his beating heart. The Beast within groused its agitation, curling in on itself before settling down to seethe quietly. His human half debated the consequences of just grabbing her and running as fast as he could until he had her all to himself.

Sapphire's hand tightened on his shoulder, drawing him back to reality. He fought the growl that was just itching to get out.

"We need to leave," Sapphire grumbled, "The other Alphas are waiting. I can always help you find her later."

Left with no other option, he knew he'd have to wait. Nodding in response, he followed Sapphire's lead.

* * *

**AN**: wow…this chapter ate my brain. I was so excited to get Endy and Sere in the same room, but then I didn't know where to take it. They'll definitely meet (face to face) in the next chapter. I hope no one's turned off by the OCs that turned up in this chapter. They're not that important and I'm not sure they'll show up later. But Petz and Cal(aka Calaveras) aren't OCs. They're characters from the Black Moon saga.

One more thing, strawberry vanilla scented candles smell goodXD and really, I couldn't resist.

[1] I know very little about this county other than that it's on the seaside and has pretty bed and breakfasts.

[2] Pandia/Pandeia is a Greek goddess named after the full moon. She was an offspring of Zeus and Selene.

[3] It's really easy to mistake these plants for one another. They're all white and look like weeds. Poison hemlock has a spotted purple stem, while Fool's Parsley has hanging brachts from the secondary flower cluster, which Caraway flowers lack (www. nearctica. com/flowers/ apium/Ccarvi .htm).

[4]Anterus/Anteros is the Greek god of requited love and the brother of Cupid/Eros and also part of the Erotes.

[5] Harmony/Harmonia is the Greek goddess of harmony and concord. She really is related to Eros and Anterus since they're the offspring of Aphrodite and Ares.

[6] Gealach gheal is Irish Gaelic for Silver Moon. The coven's name roughly translates to Solas Na Gealaí Gile Coven (or Light of the Silver Moon Coven). I might be wrong, so if you can give me a better translation, please do.

_Last Edited Nov.20, 2009_


	7. Interlude I

**AN**: I just wanted to thank everyone for all the supportive reviews you have been leaving for this story. I can't express how much I enjoy hearing from you. It is very encouraging to know that all the hard work and long hours it takes to put my thoughts down are being appreciated.

I've gotten a new BETA and have had all the previous chapters looked over. You've all probably gotten tired of hearing this, but I've added some new stuff in there so you might wanna go back and read the previous chapters. I promise this'll be the last big overhaul I do to this fic.

But if you find that there are things that still don't make any sense, please tell me.

Happy reading!

* * *

**Chapter 6.5: Interlude I**

Endymion glanced around the room and wondered how much longer etiquette required him to stay.

The meeting with the other alphas had been a waste of his time. Nothing had truly been accomplished. _'But they've been warned,'_ he thought with a vicious smirk. Yes, now the other alphas knew the price of harboring the Berserker.

He felt no guilt at having threatened the other alphas. It was in everyone's best interest that the Berserker was caught. And the sooner it was done, the better.

He ignored the speculative glances currently being aimed in his direction by a large number of unmated females. He knew it wouldn't be long before one of them decided to stop staring and come after what they wanted. Before tonight, he might have responded to their blatant interest in him. But then he'd scented _her_ and that changed everything.

His mate was human and he didn't give a damn. Though he appreciated a female's fragrance as much as the next loup-garou, human women had never been able to grab his attention. They tended to smell like artificial chemicals and sterile soaps to his kind. Even when it wasn't offensive, it wasn't exactly compelling either. Yet she smelled like everything he'd ever wanted in a woman.

Even now, her scent lingered in the air, so he knew she was still around. And he knew he wouldn't be leaving without her. All he had to do was find her again.

* * *

Staring at the half-empty glass of champagne in her hand, Serena, after a moment's contemplation, drained it.

Midnight had come and passed and the people around her were starting to eye each other admiringly. If there was one thing Serena knew about loups-garous, it was that they all liked three things very much —food, touch, and sex. And now that they'd been fed and the mated couples were leaving, the unmated ones were all looking to get laid.

She should have left with Luna. She _really_ should have. Sammy being her ride home had of course decided to ditch her to chase some tail. And now she was stuck hiding, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible.

Frowning, she looked down at the empty glass in her hand. She had long since realized that this was definitely not the time or the place to get drunk off her ass. Yet somehow that was what always happened at these shifter events— she'd get a little tipsy and someone _always_ managed to find and corner her somewhere. And the next thing she'd know, she was waking up in some shifter's bed, sporting a hangover from hell.

And worst yet, she was starting to feel the lightheadedness that came from being drunk creeping up on her conscious mind. She knew that she had to get out of this ballroom as soon as possible. She needed to find Sammy and she needed to do it quickly.

From the shadowy corner she'd managed to find for herself, she hurriedly scanned the room for her wayward brother. She was going to beat the daylights out of him for leaving her stranded like this. She didn't want to be some wolf's bed warmer— not tonight or any other night. The only good thing to come out from this night was Sapphire's news. With the lack of progress on their case, having some idea of what they were dealing with was the only thing that was actually keeping Serena from losing her mind about the whole entire situation.

Serena spotted a familiar head of red and did a double take. It could only be one person. Rebeus.

'_What the hell is he doing here?'_ Serena thought, feeling the first strings of dread stirring. She did not want to be anywhere near this particular wolf—not in her present state. Or ever.

He must have felt her eyes on him because the next thing she knew, her gaze was locked with his. Even across the ballroom she could feel the possessive heat in those scarlet eyes.

'_Make out with a guy once and he thinks he owns you,'_ she thought sourly, her eyes never leaving his. She'd even once contemplated sleeping with him, until she realized that he was a Máni wolf. And after her first encounter with a wolf from that pack, she tended to avoid them at all cost. Serena only liked one Máni wolf and that was Andrew. The rest were a bunch of stalkers and God knew what else they did in their free time. She looked away.

Mauling over the best course of action, Serena chewed on her lower lip. She looked around the ballroom for possible exits. Having to leave her hiding place seemed like the likeliest solution to her problem. It'd be a lot easier to lose him in the crowd and from there she could either escape to one of the terraces or find the doorway that led outside.

Decision made, she slipped into the crowd, placing her empty glass on a passing waiter's tray. She could feel his gaze on her exposed backside even as she sped up to escape him. She knew that sooner rather than later, he'd be gaining on her. Without hesitation, she grabbed some of the material of her floor length gown and started to make a run for it, not really caring about who she bumped into.

If there was one thing she had to thank MID for, it was teaching her how to run in heels without falling flat on her face or breaking her neck.

Running it turned out, was a bad idea. She should have realized that he'd take that as an invitation —predators like him enjoyed chasing down prey. She didn't slow down though. It was either become a moving target or let him have his way with her.

To many other women, the latter would probably have sounded like a rather fantastic idea. Serena knew that he had a lot of women who wanted a piece of him. She wasn't the least bit interested in letting him anywhere near her body. And really, there was no way she was going to make herself a target to that crazy bitch Koan.[1]

She made it all the way across the ballroom, and beat a path straight for one of the French double doors that led out onto one of terraces before she chanced a glance over her shoulder. He wasn't anywhere near her. Relieved, she sighed. Maybe she'd lost him?

Her relief was short-lived.

Serena slammed hard into a warm, solid object. It knocked the breath out of her. An array of colorful curses left her mouth before she felt the immovable object wrap powerful arms around her. It pressed her against the entire length of a very muscular and decidedly masculine body.

* * *

Endymion scented her first. Then he caught a glimpse of her out of the corner of his eye. She was racing toward him at full speed, dodging bodies left and right as she made her way across the ballroom. He was instantly mesmerized by her strong shapely legs. The image of those legs wrapped tightly around him as he sank between them instantly flooded his mind.

Letting out a harsh curse, Endymion cleared the image from his mind. He instead focused on what she was doing: running.

What was she running away from? An exuberant admirer? He swallowed hard, trying not to choke on a growl. He knew what happened at these parties, which was why he mostly avoided attending them. A fierce, possessive wave of heat poured through his veins. He felt the tips of his fingers burning as razor-sharp claws pricked impatiently beneath the surface of his skin.

He made no move to get out of her way as he continued to watch her get closer. She was a lot smaller now that he could see her up close.

One moment she was running quite determinedly past him and in the next, she was slamming into him hard, sputtering and cursing under her breath.

He instinctively wrapped his arms around her to keep her from falling. He urged her body closer, feeling her pressed against the entirety of his body. She smelled so amazingly sweet. The scent of her infiltrated his lungs, fuel to the inferno of his possessiveness.

"Are you okay?" he rasped in a husky voice. She looked up and he found himself drowning in her eyes.

Something seemed to burst into awareness between them. The connection burned like pure energy, crackling and sharp. Her breath quivered, color creeping up her neck.

He couldn't help but memorize her fey-like features, imprinting them upon his memory. This close, her scent engulfed him, eroding his already tenuous hold on his self-control. But he had enough control not to let her see the wolf stalking her from behind his eyelids.

"Yeah, I think so," she answered slowly, still holding his gaze.

She shivered and jerked herself free of their locked gazes. She cast a quick glance over her shoulder and swore.

Endymion looked up, trying to see who it was that she was searching for. Then he saw the redhead. Endymion knew that the male wasn't from his pack, but recognized the face. The other male was watching them with a dark look on his face.

Endymion only smiled back, his canines bared. The other man glanced away.

"Excuse me," she muttered, ducking beneath his unsuspecting arms and darting behind him to let herself out the French doors.

Stunned, Endymion froze. He found himself staring dumbfounded at the double doors. Was she planning on hiding out there all night? Shaking his head, he disappeared through the doors, intent on doing what he did best: pursue and capture.

* * *

Serena looked around the half-lit terrace. The crisp spring air had kept most of the other guests inside and for that, she was thankful. She didn't want any witnesses to what she was about to do. Breathing in the cool air, she took off her heels before moving away from the French doors.

Going to the railing, she leaned her elbows against it, trying to estimate how high off the ground she was. The ballroom was only on the fifth floor, so her jumping off the railing wouldn't cause her anything more than a couple of scraps and bruises. Plus she'd have the grass and flowers to cushion her fall. And besides, she'd jumped off places much higher than this and really, there was no way she was staying out here. The chance that either Rubeus or that other wolf would come out here looking for her was high.

She shivered at the thought. No shifter had ever managed to garner that much of a reaction out of her. Sure she thought his kind was attractive, but none of them had ever made her instincts sing. When he had looked at her, instant heat had leaped in his eyes, as if somebody had ignited a fire within them. She had felt as if he was staring into her very soul. And that was scary in and of itself. The fact that her heart had beat faster with anticipation and undeniable attraction just made getting away that much more a priority. She was adamant about not being another notch on any wolf's bedpost.

Throwing her shoes over the rail, Serena walked back to the French doors. She'd need a running start if she wanted to survive the fall. Taking a deep breath, she took off, muttering some unintelligible words under her breath. When she came to the railing, she vaulted over it and went flying into the air. Arcing high over the ground below, she reflexively swung her arms forward and threw her feet out in front of her, preparing her body for the fall.

Something warm and hard slammed into her from behind, disrupting her momentum. She gasped for air and began to thrash about. Strong arms wrapped around her waist while a large body curled around hers. They went soaring before roughly landing on a patch of grass.

She struggled out of her captor's arms, dizzily making her way onto her feet. "That crazy bastard," she muttered under her breath while she rearranged her dress. Glancing around, she squinted. With the new moon out, it was hard to make out her surroundings. The only light was coming from the small circular structure in front of her. She spun around, quickly realizing that they'd landed near the maze of flowers that surrounded the nearby gazebo. She hurriedly made her way over to it. A waist-high white lattice, entwined with roses framed the gazebo, while ornate wood trimmings bordered the overhang and the wooden railing.

Going up the steps, she entered the gazebo, and sat on the wooden bench, trying to decide what to do next. At this point in time, there was a strong possibility that Sammy had truly abandoned her for the night and that she'd have to call a cab to get home. Going back inside would require that she avoid not one, but two crazy wolves. She knew that the moment she reentered the hotel without some sort of protection, Rubeus would be all over her, trying to seduce her into spending the night with him. And that other guy had been crazy enough to try tackling her mid-air. She didn't know what he'd do when he caught up with her.

She shook her head, knowing that her only chance at calling a cab laid inside. She was light on her feet and if they didn't leave her alone, screaming bloody murder would have her rescued in seconds. If there was one thing she knew about predatory male shifters, it was the fact that they liked to play hero to damsels in distress.

* * *

Endymion laid on the grass, waiting for his heart to slow its erratic beating. His heart had nearly stopped when he'd seen her jump off into the darkness below. The wolf had instantly taken control, not wanting to lose its mate the same night that he'd found her. His only thought had been of saving her. Tackling her out of the air had seemed reasonable at the time. Even now, he was in the grip of the wolf's instincts, his thoughts a disjointed mess being kept together by the wolf's raison d'être: making sure that his mate was safe and alive.[2]

He lifted his head when he sensed that she'd begun to move away. He was on his feet within seconds. He easily followed her, his eyes having gone night-glow. He watched her look about before entering the gazebo.

He continued to observe her for what seemed like hours before giving in to the wolf's urgent need to touch and feel her.

He took the steps two at a time, within seconds he was gazing down at her bent head. She seemed surprised to see him, but he didn't care. It took only a single move to enclose her in the circle of his arms and bury his face against her neck. He was ravenous for the scent of her, the feel of her. His embrace was a rough one, the wolf trying to reassure itself that she was still whole. What the hell had she been thinking? Didn't she know that she was only human?

Pulling back, he shook her by her stiff shoulders. The wolf was so close to the surface, his voice dropped several octaves. "Don't you ever do something that stupid again!"

It was an order.

She didn't even bother to act scared, but instead demanded, "Who are you to dictate to me?"

He wanted to bite her. Hard enough to mark. To claim. So she'd know that she was his. That this stunt that she'd just pulled had been unacceptable to both man and wolf.

He bared his teeth at her, frustrated that he couldn't just inform her that she was his mate and that he had every right to tell her what to do. Her life wasn't just _hers_ anymore; it belonged to him as well.

He closed his eyes and counted to ten. "What were you thinking?" he murmured, briefly petting her disheveled hair with one hand.

"It's none of your business," she spat. Her blue eyes were hard as she tried to pull away from him. "Look, you need to let me go." When he didn't immediately comply, she coldly added, "_Now_."

His hand smoothed down her arm, clasping as gently as possible around her wrist. He could feel her pulse racing beneath the pads of his fingers and knew that she was getting scared. He hated that she thought she had anything to fear from him. And not knowing how to ease it or how to make her understand where he was coming from was really starting to irritate him.

The only thing he knew was that he couldn't let her get away. But found it difficult to express this to her. All he could say was a low, urgent, "I can't."

She growled in frustration and took a swing at him. Only his lightning-fast reflexes saved him from a black eye. He pinned her hands behind her back before she could try again. Furious eyes met his. The woman in his arms was pure fire and heat.

This was a fit mate, the wolf in him growled. This female would never let herself be crushed by his demands or needs.

She started to struggle once more, going so far as to try and kick him several times. He let her, but never loosened his grip on her hands. She huffed in annoyance before giving up.

While he still had her trapped, he wanted to get his fill of her, for he was very well aware that she was either plotting his demise or how to get away.

His hand absentmindedly stroked her neck while his thumb circled her racing pulse. The wolf in him was fascinated by the beauty of her skin. It was so rich and luscious he almost thought it might taste of cream.

"I'm really starting to get tired of this," she seethed, heatedly glaring up at him.

Smirking, he deliberately backed her into the railing of the gazebo, not stopping until her breasts were crushed warm and tempting against him, her stomach muscles clenching at the granite-hard thrust of his erection.

He breathed her in, desire filling his nostrils, unleashing the beast that lived within. It was easy to become intoxicated by the scent of her desire. The wolf batted at the scent, rolled it in his mouth, hungered for more of it.

"You smell good enough to eat," he blurted out, the harsh words all but torn from his throat. Not giving her a chance to reply, he dipped his head and kissed her. It was a chaste kiss from his perspective, a mere taste when he wanted to ravage.

She gasped and he caught it with a searing kiss, thrusting his tongue between her parted lips. He growled deep in his throat when he felt her tongue chase his hesitantly at first and then with increasing boldness.

God, did she taste sweet. The feel of her luscious body pressed against him, of her tongue dueling his, of her soft lips crushed under his were all ganging up to drive him insane with lust.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" she gasped when he finally broke the kiss. He ignored her breathy words and pushed her up against the railing as he began trailing hot kisses down the column of her neck, drowning in the taste and smell of her. How much he wanted to take her, right then, right there.

He suckled her neck roughly, giving in to the urge to mark her when he felt her run her fingers through his hair. She let out a throaty breath. He lingered on the patch of skin, licking away the sting of his bite. Only when he was sure the hurt had been soothed did he move up and capture her earlobe, gently whispering how good she felt against him.

She murmured incoherent words in reply, shifting her legs slightly until she was intimately pressed against him. He closed his eyes against the pleasure that went surging through him, gritting his teeth against the intense need to bury himself deep within her. He wanted her covered in his scent. And he was animal enough not to care why he wanted that. He just did.

He stopped resisting the irresistible lure of kiss-wet lips and slowly slid the silky-smooth material of her dress up her silky thigh, relishing the feel of his fingers gliding over her soft flesh.

She kissed him back, vaguely aware that his hands were behind her now, his fingertips grazing her exposed back. He stroked the arch of her bare back, his fingers tenderly brushing her spine. His caress languidly traveled downward, his strong fingers cupping the curve of her ass, squeezing tightly. She didn't resist at all as he kissed her deeper and gradually started to grind his pelvis against hers, capturing first her startled gasp and then her moan of pleasure with his mouth.

He lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around him as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Um," he distantly heard a voice say, "sorry to interrupt, but I—"

Endymion broke the kiss when he felt her tense up. Hiding her from the intruder's view, he turned his head, flashed his extending canines and barked, "_Leave_."

"C-can't do that, s-sir," the young man stammered, holding his ground even though he reeked of fear.

"Sere, I know it's you 'cause I used a point-me spell and it led me here." She lowered her forehead against his chest when the young man continued to babble on. "Didn't know what you were doing out here, but now that I do, I just wanted to tell you that I'm about to leave.

"I'll go wait over there, far away from what you're doing," he muttered backing away from the gazebo steps. "And, um, I found your shoes. Just so, um, you know, you don't have to look for them."

A pregnant silence filled the gazebo.

After a moment, Endymion lifted her chin, looking down at her with eyes that were no longer human. "Who the hell was that?" he growled, not liking the questions firing through his brain in rapid succession. Whoever the hell he was, Endymion hated him.

Irritated, she frowned at him. "He isn't any of your business."

"I'm making you my business," He growled softly, squeezing her chin.

She tried to wrench herself from his embrace but he wouldn't let her go. Pinning him with a hard glare, she glowered, "I dare you to say that again."

He breathed, slow and easy, while he struggled to stay in control.

God, what was wrong with him? He was screwing things up even before it got started. He was as bad as a teenager high on raging hormones, unable to think past the red-hazed lust and possessiveness clouding his mind. Why hadn't anyone warned him that finding his mate would turn him into a chest-pounding idiot? The importance of making a good impression of the woman he was meant to spend the rest of his life with wasn't lost on him.

Taking a deep breath, Endymion strove for a calm, non-threatening voice. "Look, I'm sorry." He forced his grip to ease, releasing her chin and stepping out from the cradle of her thighs. "See, I'm letting you go."

The look on her face told him she wasn't buying it. It wasn't as if he couldn't chase her down if she did decide to make a run for it.

Sliding down from her perch on the railing, she smoothed out the material of her dress. "Yeah, right," she muttered, "like you aren't probably planning to follow me home."

Folding his arms across his chest, Endymion scowled at her, feeling more than a little insulted. He wasn't going to stalk her to her home, though he couldn't deny that the thought hadn't briefly crossed his mind. "Do I look like a stalker to you?"

She shrugged, blowing a wayward curl out of her eyes. "I have no idea. I'm going to go now."

He opened his mouth to try and convince her to stay, even though he didn't have a clue what to say at this point. Throwing her over his shoulder and making a run for it was looking like a pretty good option at the moment.

"How do I contact you?" he asked in a low, urgent rumble, grabbing hold of her arm as she turned to leave, careful not to squeeze too hard. Her bones felt fragile beneath his hand, making him wary of his inhuman strength and sending a fierce surge of protectiveness through his blood.

"I need to go," she mumbled, trying to break free of his grip.

"I can't let you do that," he quietly intoned, trying to sound reasonable.

She couldn't repress a gasp of dismay, but common sense came to the rescue. She knew how these wolves operated. "If we're meant to be, we'll meet again eventually."

He leaned closer and brushed his lips against her cheek. The slight touch sent a sizzle through her veins. "I'll find you again," he whispered into her ear before he let go of her arm, already knowing that she was his.

She backed away slowly, until she was at the steps. A cold knot of fury and something that felt like pain twisted his stomach as she turned around and quickly exited the gazebo.

Clenching his hands into fists, he watched her and the young man disappear into the night. And he _would_ find her again, he vowed to himself, even if he had to search all of Washington to do so. And besides, sometimes the best way to hunt was to let the prey think you'd given way.

* * *

**AN**: I know a lot of you were waiting for this. So was it as good for you as it was for me? I definitely had a lot of fun writing this one. Think of it as my Thanksgiving gift to you.

[1] Koan is one of the Ayakashi Sisters under Rubeus' command during the Black Moon saga. In the anime, she's in lust/unrequited love with him and he didn't do anything to discourage her. But he wasn't interested in her at all…except maybe in using her.

[2] raison d'être is a French phrase meaning "reason for being"


	8. Of Unusual Meetings

Thanks again you guys for reviewing, I'm glad you all liked the last chapter.

Happy reading!

* * *

**Chapter Seven: Of Unusual Meetings**

The clock was ticking; they had less than two weeks left before another body was discovered. The pressure was mounting for some progress on their search for the killer. Part of this pressure was coming from above, quite a bit was coming from the outside. The victims' families had found each other and banded together; full of grief, rage and indignant impatience, they had gone and sold their story to the media.

At any other time, Serena would have felt compassion for the families' plight. Having just come from another press conference, she was in no mood to feel any sympathy for these families. Their need to have the murders dealt with was understandable, but turning their case into a media circus was not. If she had to field questions from any more overzealous reporters, she would not be responsible for her actions.

The only good thing to come of this was the fact that the psychic women of the city were on high alert. Serena wouldn't be surprised if the beauty salons started getting more blonde customers. She didn't blame them for being scared, not with this type of predator loose on the streets.

'_At least the humans aren't forming lynch mobs.'_ Groaning at the thought, Serena buried her head between her forearms, hands folded over her head. She wasn't cut out for this shit. She was starting to think that Setsuna had assigned her this case to show her exactly how inexperienced she truly was. Serena's career at MID consisted mainly of running around banishing ghosts, debugging haunted houses, retrieving cursed objects and stopping small time criminals before they became too much of a hassle. That was what she was good at: stopping crimes before they happened. When was the last time she'd investigated a murder, much less a serial?

_Never,_ some treacherous part of her whispered back.

'_Well,'_ Serena thought wearily, _'at least one of us on this case knows what she's doing.'_ Raye had been solving these types of cases for years; Serena had nothing to be afraid of. Setsuna always knew what she was doing. This wasn't the time or place to start doubting her skills. Yes she was inexperienced, but she picked things up quick. She and Raye might have different versions of the Sight, but it would be the way they put the missing pieces together that would matter in the end. She wasn't going to let these girls down and let their murderer roam free.

At the moment, they were fresh out of leads. Serena knew that the only way to get something new would be to go back to the crime scene for a second expanded look. They must have missed something the first time around. In accordance to this, Raye had suggested they reinterview the families and look into the places that the women usually frequented. The killer had to have met them somewhere and with so little information at their disposal, this was the best place to start.

To make matters more complicated, Setsuna had offered Agent Knight up like a sacrificial lamb. This would not end well, Serena was sure.

Serena lifted her head to find Raye glaring heatedly at the papers that covered her desk. They'd spent most of the time after the press conference calling the victims' families and trying to set up interviewing times. It was slow work, but they'd managed to schedule a decent amount of interviews for the week. "His telepathy is likely to pick up something we can't," she offered.

Raye was staring at her as if trying to decide if her disease was contagious. Moments later, she was scowling. "You're probably right," she grumbled, rubbing her temples, "I just don't want to work with the guy."

Serena was both amused and disturbed by Raye's fiery dislike of Jared Knight. From the time she'd met the other psychic in basic training, Raye had been cold as ice, unflappable in the face of provocation— her true self buried under layers of mental shielding. Up until recently, the only emotion Serena had ever been able to incite from the retrocog had been mild annoyance. Serena wasn't sure how to deal with this new emotional Raye—someone who argued and teased her. What if she was cracking?

The thought stopped Serena cold. It was terrifying to think that Raye might be cracking. But it was one of many viable explanations. Aside from the empaths and some telepaths, psychics with the Sight had to be great at shielding their minds —it was the only thing that would keep them from losing themselves to their Talent. Their Sight evolved with age and keeping your Gift from driving you to insanity was the first thing that young psychics were taught.

There was a reason those with the Sight were only a scant one percent in the psychic population. Serena was sure that the numbers were less than that. What with only a tenth of that one percent surviving to adolescence.

'_No,'_ Serena thought vehemently. Surely she'd feel the fissures by now? Raye was in her mental network now; they'd formed a connection due to the stunt she'd pulled in Maine. Along with her family and friends, Serena could now feel Raye at the back of her mind. If the other psychic started to deteriorate, Serena would know.

Shaking off her thoughts, Serena replied, "I'd offer to switch, but I'm not sure I'd be of much use. You're good at dealing with hostile witnesses and he'll easily pick up on lies and the like."

Serena smiled self-deprecatingly. "Sapphire's alpha is likely to tear me apart. I'm supposed to spend at least an hour getting information from him, think I'll make it?" Serena was more worried about meeting up with Sapphire's alpha than she let on. Was she to treat him like she'd treat any other shifter? Would he take it as an insult? He couldn't have made alpha of a predatory pack at such a young age by being anything less than the top of the food chain.

Raye gave her an incredulous look. "You have how many shifters for in-laws?"

"He's an alpha," Serena stated, "that changes everything."

Raye didn't seem convinced. "Whatever you say. Just get as much info as you can on what we should be looking for. If this guy's a Berserker, we'll need all the help we can get."

"What if he does that domineering thing alphas are known for and demands that we stop this investigation and let him handle it?" This was indeed her biggest fear. He was the only Hunter in the area and they'd have no choice but to hand the case over to him. After all, that was his job, wasn't it?

"Then you persuade him otherwise."

Why did Raye have to make it sound so easy? Serena was no coward, but even she knew that alphas were a whole other can of worms. Plus he was a lupi, too. Serena had no idea how she'd manage to make it through the meeting without making a fool of herself.

Serena took a glance at her watch. In another two hours, she'd be holed up in the same room as an alpha male. She'd heard enough about them through her womenfolk that real dread was starting to build up. Squaring her shoulders, she gathered up the necessary files she'd need and stuffed them in her bag. She stood up and stretched. "Well, I gotta go. His office is in the heart of Seattle and traffic's bound to be a killer." Pulling on her navy blue suit jacket, Serena checked that her weapons were in their usual places. Satisfied that they were, she then headed for the door. "Don't bitch at Knight too much. He's just doing his job."

"Can't make any promises, but I'll try."

Serena couldn't help but smile. "That's all I ask."

Half way to Seattle, Serena realized something very important. Though she knew basic facts about Sapphire's alpha, his name didn't seem to be one of those facts. Her first instinct was to call Andrew. But he was from a different pack and his opinions would be biased. She called Amy instead.

"This is Amy Winters."

"Hey Ames," Serena replied, "So can you tell me who's the alpha for Bendis?"

There was silence on the other end of the line, before Amy finally answered. "His name is Endymion Cahan[1]. Is there anything else you'd like to know?"

Serena laughed sheepishly. "Thanks Amy."

"No problem. If you forget anything else, you know my number."

Okay, so she'd forgotten his name. That didn't mean she hadn't done her research. She knew that he was Bendis's youngest alpha, that he was the current Hunter for the loup-garou council, that he ran a venture capitalist firm and that under his leadership, Bendis owned half —if not more— of the businesses in Seattle and the surrounding area; he practically owned the city.

"Thanks, I'll be sure to remember that."

* * *

When Raye was younger, she'd been terrified of being touched. There had been no one there to teach her ways to protect her mind and so touch had become the enemy. Insanity had lurked behind an absentminded pat on the head, an affectionate kiss on the forehead. Her salvation came when her father had grown tired of her seizures and the rising medical bills that kept her functioning.

Raye knew that if it hadn't been for her Grandpa, she would have spent her entire childhood being overloaded with feelings and sensations until her mind either shut itself down or one of her seizures killed her. He had trained that feeling of overwhelming trepidation out of her. She had learned that touch could be good, that her Talent was no curse. She had trained until there was no hesitation when it came to accepting a simple handshake or a hug. When she'd been old enough, MID had taken her in and finished what her Grandpa had started.

That childhood fear of being touched was coming back with a vengeance. She couldn't stand to be around Jared Knight because everything about him screamed for her to _touch_. She was more than a little baffled by this unhealthy compulsion. She felt like a child that delighted in sticking its hand into the fire and waiting to see how badly it burned.

What was wrong with her that everything in her felt his presence the moment he stepped into a room? Being around Jared Knight felt as if her outer mental shields were slowly forming minute fractures that would one day lead to their breaking down. Cracked mental shields meant seizures and a greater potential for brain damage. It wouldn't matter that her psychic's mind had been built and wired to deal with ESP[2]— too much stimulus and shutting down wouldn't be too far behind. Anything more than a simple handshake from him, would likely equal the utter destruction of her psyche.

Raye did not want to turn into a vegetable. She had to find a way to make him keep his distance. If only her Ice Queen persona would survive being in the same room as him.

* * *

Serena parked her car near the Fourth and Madison building in the central business district. She got out and fed the meter. Once satisfied that she hadn't forgotten her keys in the car—because if it happened once, it's likely to happen again— Serena walked down the street to Bendis's business headquarters. It was one of the skyscrapers with windows that reflected the sky. Forty-five floors of the building were Bendis owned, while the other fifteen floors were rented office space. Nemae Enterprises[3], the parent company which all Bendis operated business fell under, was located on the thirty-seventh floor.

After going through the revolving doors, Serena quickly went to the security guard and grabbed a visitor's pass. Making her way through the spacious lobby, Serena headed for the elevator banks. Even there, she didn't feel the telltale tingle of having passed through a set of wards. Serena did not like buildings left unwarded— some part of her always felt disturbingly exposed, unsafe.

Serena stepped out of the elevator and walked down the navy blue carpeted corridor. She spotted a set of blue tinted glass double-doors with Nemae Enterprises' logo on it. Upon entering the roomy reception area, Serena went right to the receptionist's desk.

The receptionist, having heard Serena's clicking heels on the white marble floor, looked up from her computer and smiled.

"Agent Moon," she warmly greeted, "Mr. Cahan has been expecting you."

Serena smiled back. "That's good to know."

"Mr. Cahan is currently in a meeting." The receptionist then motioned to one of the fluffy blue armchairs which dotted the waiting area. A couple of potted plants broke up the monotony of blue on white. "You may wait here until his secretary comes to get you."

Serena nodded and took the seat across the receptionist's desk. Sighing, she leaned back into the seat. _'For once, I show up to a meeting early and the guy isn't even available.'_ She slowly began to take in her surroundings. From her seat, she had a clear view of most of the office space, which was a modernized, open-design area with a thin distribution of people and desks. There were a lot of plants, computers, and blue and white armchairs.

Glad that the blinds on the big windows were partially closed, Serena pulled out her PDA and started looking over the questions she wanted to ask Mr. Cahan.

Approximately thirty minutes later, a young bleached blonde woman, poked her head out from a glass door to the right of the receptionist's desk. She waved to get Serena's attention before finally saying, "Mr. Cahan will see you now."

Serena got up and followed the secretary through the transparent double doors, down a long hallway to one door at the end of the hall. Through the glass doors, she could see a dark haired man sitting behind a massive L-shaped glass desk, head bent over some papers in his hand. Surrounded by three computers, his face was half-obscured by the white laptop sitting in front of him. Behind him were two floor-to-ceiling windows, which made up two of the office's sides. Four black leather armchairs circled his black desk.

As if sensing he was being watched, the man looked up. His glowing amber eyes stopped Serena dead in her tracks.

'_No, it can't be,'_ she thought, clenching the silver door-handle. Here she'd thought to never see that man again. But she couldn't deny that it was him. Not with his unwavering gaze focusing so intensely on her, making her feel stripped bare. It felt as if every muscle in her body was locked tight. She became very much aware of the lethal danger scant inches away.

Her fight-or-flight instincts be damned. She could not, for the life of her, break his predator's gaze. And she had no doubt that this man was every inch a predator.

* * *

Jared Knight couldn't believe the predicament he was in. He knew he shouldn't have caved and accepted to do Agent Hades a "favor." One request had led to another and he was now supposed to accompany Hino and Fairchild on their second round of interviews. He hadn't gotten any say in the matter. Apparently, some people at the top wanted this case solved pronto.

Fairchild, Jared could easily handle. His research had provided a wealth of information on the blonde psychic. Her precognitive ability had leveled at an impressive 9.1[4], her regenerative ability— a 5.4, her combative experience was average, and though she was born into one of Washington's prominent Witch families— she'd tested below average in that area. Although she'd been born a Witch, MID did not recognize her has such. But from the record of cases she'd worked on, it seemed that her mediocre skills in witchcraft had been more than handy. He wasn't at all surprised to see that she'd only lasted three months as a was one of those friendly agents who seemed to want to be everybody's friend and probably didn't have it in her to kill in cold blood. Seeing as this was her first homicide, Jared wanted to see how well she'd do out of her comfort zone.

Hino on the other hand, was something else. She'd tested off the charts when it came to her Talent in retrocognition. She'd also tested 4.5 for pyrokinetic powers. She'd been working homicides straight out of the Academy and consequently been labeled an Ice Queen by all her previous partners for being aloof to the point of icy remoteness. Her partnerships tended to last less than a month; she was one of those agents that worked best alone.

Jared was indubitably fascinated by her. He saw nothing of this ice the others had reported. She was quick to anger. And when her temper flamed to life, her amethyst eyes seemed to glow with their own inner fire. He tried and failed to understand his feelings. She was hardly the type of woman who usually attracted him, but there was something fascinating about her, something compelling. Her mental shields were the most impressive that he'd ever seen. He'd sent out a gentle probing every time he was near her, trying to map her out, to find a way to get inside. Her inner self was locked up tight under layers of shields and so far, he'd had no luck in finding even the minute of cracks that he could exploit and gain access to some of her surface level thoughts.

He wanted her disturbed, to be as fascinated with him as he was with her. It was irrational that he should feel this way, but it seemed his very presence irritated the hell out of her. Good, because that damn shell she had around herself irritated the hell out of him. Maybe he'd one day anger her enough to let something slip, then he'd find out exactly what it was she was hiding so doggedly.

Readying his cockiest smile, Jared knocked before entering the agents shared office. Fairchild was missing, but Hino was sitting at her desk, her face set in a foreboding scowl.

"You're late," she finally muttered, glaring at him over her coffee cup with a look that promised pain.

Jared remained unmoved. He didn't even bother to check his watch to see if her accusation was true.

His smile turned into a smirk. "So you say, princess."

She huffed in exasperation. "Whatever. Let's go."

She stood up and quickly donned her suit jacket. In spite of the black pantsuit and stiff white shirt she wore, he could tell her breasts would overflow his hands.

She eyed him witheringly, as if she could tell what he was thinking. His lips twitched in response.

Giving her a mock bow, Jared opened the door and asked, "So princess, what are we doing today?"

The glare she gave him could have melted the ice caps at the North Pole.

They shuffled out of the office. She seemed to take a moment to compose herself before coolly replying, "We're interviewing family members of the third and fifth victims, then we're stopping by _Nemesis_ to interview the owner and the bartender."

Jared frowned and followed her down the corridor. "I thought the victims mostly frequented _Scion_."

Hino paused once they reached the elevators. Pressing the button for the lobby, she threw him a sideways glance. He found himself staring unabashedly at her uptilted eyes.

"Yes, _Scion_ is one of the clubs mentioned. But last week, we found out that he has another favorite hunting ground; he found Two and Four at _Nemesis_."

"And One, Three and Five at _Scion_?" he ventured to guess.

Hino's lips curved into a half smile. "You haven't been paying attention, Knight. We only know where he met four of the victims. We have no idea where he met One. And the only people who know where One usually hangs out hadn't even known that One was seeing our guy."

He returned the smile with one of his own. "While One's friend wasn't useful, maybe One's coworkers liked to go drinking during happy hour."

She cocked her head to the side and his eyes were drawn to the waterfall of raven black hair swaying back and forth. She tapped her chin with one ruby red nail. "You might be right. I'll make a few phone calls and see if we can't add them to the list of interviewees for the week."

"Glad to be of service, princess."

This time, she didn't bother to glare at all.

* * *

Endymion felt irritable as hell, as if his fur was being rubbed the wrong way. It was a feeling that had started in the middle of his last meeting, causing his beast to restlessly prowl within the walls of his mind. The feeling had intensified as the meeting went on and even now, the wolf had yet to settle down.

Having not found the source of his irritability, he went back to looking over the papers in his hand. It was a proposal from the acquisition team for a new biotech firm. A group of owls were trying to amass capital to finance the project and had come to his firm looking for funds. He was likely to provide it since Nemae Enterprises had previously done business with this clan of owls.

A discreet knock sounded on his office door before his secretary poked her head in.

His beast went hunter-still.

It was impossible for that scent to cling to her. He's known Elizabeth her entire life and never had she smelled like the woman whom he was certain was his mate. Curious, he found himself leaning over to take another sniff.

It was her scent; it was something he'd never forget. The beast prowled closer to the surface of his mind.

Elizabeth was watching him with an inquisitive look on her face. "Your one o'clock is here." When he didn't respond, she added, "You know, the agent from MID?"

That grabbed his attention. He'd forgotten that he was meeting someone from MID today.

"Bring them."

A delicate blonde brow lifted, "Whatever you say boss."

She left and he quickly went over what he knew so far. It wasn't much. Aside from what Sapphire had told him, he only had what the media was reporting to go on. He'd also read enough newspapers to know exactly what the public thought of all this. They weren't putting two and two together yet and organizing hunting parties to kill the loup-garou. He was sure MID had something to do with it. And for that, he'd give this agent his undivided attention.

He went back to scanning the proposal, knowing that he'd probably not get the chance to look it over until the evening.

Elizabeth returned a few minutes later.

This time, there was no mistaking what he smelled. He took a deliberate breath. Air flooded into his lungs, mixed with her unique scent. The glass doors separating them meant nothing to his strong sense of smell. And every breath he took, he was breathing her in.

The wolf took the chance to roll in the rich sweetness of her scent. The man, on the other hand, was trying to control his reaction to her. But he could feel her gaze on him, and with the air filled with her scent, every breath he took undermined the control he was so desperately trying to exert on the wolf.

The overwhelming need to possess her was so intense that he couldn't move. His eyelids drooped. His nostrils quivered as he inhaled more of her scent. Saliva filled his mouth, and he swallowed. He deliberately took a breath to calm himself.

_Mine!_ the wolf howled and he had no other choice but to listen.

He returned to battling the beast back into submission. The wolf clawed at the walls of his mind in retaliation. She was too close, too tempting. He couldn't stand it. Giving in to the urge, he looked up and met her gaze with predatory heat.

From the shocked look on her face, he could tell that he had failed in trying to appear calm.

He was surprised by her appearance: neat, tidy and smart, she was dressed in a crisp dark suit. Her blonde hair styled in a tight bun. His gaze lingered on her face, drinking in the sight of her. She looked nothing like the woman he'd been with that night. Those eyes though, he'd recognize them anywhere. They were a true blue, bluer than orchids and darker than the sky.

Still holding her gaze, he deliberately set the papers he'd been clutching back on his desk. He needed to calm the fuck down and since that didn't seem to be happening any time soon, he needed to appear less like the predator he was. It wouldn't do for him to scare her right off the bat. Not after what he'd almost done that night.

He broke their staring contest and finally addressed Elizabeth. "You can leave now." He made his voice a command edged with the roughness of a growl.

Elizabeth, who was befuddled by his actions, was quizzically looking at him. It took her a second to obey his command.

That left the agent from MID —Serena, he reminded himself— the only one left standing on the other side of the glass. She was watching Elizabeth leave, with something akin to panic on her face. She took a moment to stiffen her spine, before opening the door to let herself into his office.

Time seemed to stand still as she walked toward him and within seconds she was standing in front of him.

Getting up, Endymion circled his desk until he was a hair's breath away.

"Mr. Cahan," she greeted, extending a graceful hand.

'_So that's how she's decided to play it,'_ he thought with a rueful smirk.

"Agent Moon," he murmured in reply, dipping his head to scent her hair. His inhumanly acute hearing easily picked up the answering thump of her heart. He took those slender fingers into his hand.

Serena almost choked on air. His touch burnt like pure energy. It sent electric currents racing through her bloodstream. Her heart took on an adrenalin-rush rhythm as every cell in her body demanded that she get the hell out of there. For a split second, her mind seized. She could feel the surge of unfiltered premonitions rising, trying to bypass the controls she'd set in place to prevent something like this from happening. She quickly threw up an extra shield to stop the oncoming images from flooding her mind.

Serena didn't know what it was about him that triggered her Talent, but she really didn't want to know. Not because he was a stranger, but because sometimes, her Gift liked to tell her things she really didn't want to know about the people around her. She withdrew her hand from his and kept her head lowered while she gathered her composure.

"Are you all right?" he asked, coming closer.

His voice was a deep, mesmerizing sound that sent a thrilling chill down her spine. She furiously fought off the rising blush she felt creeping up her neck. She needed to be a professional and him and his damnable voice was making that incredibly hard for her.

"I'm fine," she calmly stated, still looking at the carpeted floor.

"Are you certain?" Endymion asked before giving in to the need to touch her again. He ran a finger down her cheek.

"Yes," she answered with a tiny gasp, the glide of his finger over her skin setting every molecule in her body afire. Her head jerked up, letting those half-human eyes capture her own. "I was about to have a premonition. They're in the habit of coming at the most inconvenient of times." She attempted to give him a winning smile because she was Serena and she was nice to everybody. Even men who made her instincts hum and triggered unexpected visions.

Endymion cupped the side of her face, his thumb stroking the smooth skin of her cheek. She didn't jerk back as he'd expected, but he could feel her body tense. He brushed his lips against her forehead, her cheek, her fluttering eyelids and came to a stop at her slightly parted lips.

The growing sensual connection between them was all but sizzling on the air, enveloping them in their own little world. It wrapped around them, oddly comforting while desire twisted through them taking on a sharp, dangerous edge, like an animal hunger demanding to be fed.

She closed her eyes, savoring the strength of his fingers at her nape, the slow rhythm of his thumb against her earlobe. His skin was warm, and she wanted more contact between them. She was hot, burning with a desire beyond anything she'd ever felt.

"Have you missed me?" he whispered against her quivering lips.

Yes, she had. Serena had spent all of Sunday unable to sleep, to think, hungering for his touch. She'd been starving for this. For _him_.

At that thought, something in her abruptly came to life, clearing the lust-filled haze of her mind. She shouldn't have felt that way for a stranger, especially for a wolf. She opened her eyes and took a cautious step back. It didn't work because he followed, crowding her.

She could see something shifting, watching her from his half human eyes. She knew enough shifters to realize that his wolf had been watching her every move from the moment she'd met his unnerving gaze from the other side of the glass. There was no denying it, not with the way his pupils were swollen and his midnight blue eyes were flecked with gold. He was dangerous and that made every hair on her body stand to attention.

His nostrils flared. "Why are you afraid of me?"

Heart pounding in her ears, she looked away. She didn't like how those golden flecks kept multiplying in his irises. She took another step back. He didn't hesitate to follow, invading her space. "I'm not afraid." A lie; she was starting to feel like cornered prey.

"Don't lie," he growled, "I can smell your fear."

Squaring her shoulders, she looked up and narrowed her eyes. "Look, I didn't come here for you to try and intimidate me." She barely avoided hissing the words. "You're Sapphire's alpha. He thought you'd be of use. If that isn't the case, tell me so right now."

For a moment they stared at each other, neither willing to break the connection.

Endymion regarded her with cool, unreadable eyes. The beast was more than frustrated that she was fighting his efforts to bond with her. But as aggravated as he was, Endymion considered the implications of her words. She was small, but there was strength in the female in front of him. Even with her pulse fluttering rapidly in her long, slender throat, she was standing her ground, glaring at him through the slits of her eyes. The beast was pleased to see that she had claws.

Unable to resist, he took a quick sniff of her deliciously tempting skin, of the lingering scent of her desire. Pulling away, he leaned back onto his desk, and flashed a wolfish grin her way. "I concede that you have a point."

His words managed to stun her into silence.

"We can discuss the case over lunch," he offered off-handedly.

She was openly gaping at him now, unsure of how to respond. Lips quirked upwards in a smirk, he watched her mouth work slowly, like she was trying to force words out that wouldn't come.

Seconds passed before she regained enough of her mental processes to say, "We can discuss the case here."

"Aren't you hungry?" he asked, his voice thick and slow like honey. "I could sure use a good meal."

With the way he was looking at her as if she were his next meal, she had a sudden inkling that staying locked in the same room with him for a considerable length of time would prove detrimental to her mental health. At least with others around, he wouldn't try to pull anything, right? She'd take her chances.

"Fine," she finally agreed, "but we're going to the iHop down the street."

"If that's what you want," he answered, arching one perfectly fine brow.

"It is."

She was startled when he took her elbow in one big hand and guided her toward the door, his grip gentle as he escorted her out of his office.

"I'm going out to lunch," he informed his secretary, when they passed by her desk.

"Enjoy your lunch," she replied, barely able to hide her amusement, "I'll hold down the fort while you're gone."

Halfway through the lobby, Serena came to a sudden stop and tilted her head to the side, as if she were listening to something from afar.

One hand moved to the base of her spine, while Endymion used his body to shield her from unwanted eyes. Glancing down, he watched fascinated as her pupils expanded, swallowing her irises and sclera whole. Her eyes were now a pure black. Endymion and the wolf reached the same conclusion on exactly what sort of psychic she was.

It wasn't the first time he'd seen a foreseer at work. They were rare and hardly ever employed by MID. Not with the rate of insanity being high in those who survive childhood. They usually freelanced as business consultants. And having used their services before for information on market trends and new business ventures, he knew that they were good at what they did.

Moments later, her eyes returned back to their usual cornflower blue.

Clutching at the lapels of his tailored Joseph Abboud suit, Serena exploded into a fit of giggles, startling those walking passed the pair. Her mind quickly assessed the images, examined them from different angles until they branched out into two particular endings.

Concerned, Endymion gently squeezed her shoulder, bringing the giggles to a stop.

Eyes alight with mirth, Serena answered his unasked question. "I'm fine," she answered, "I hope you don't mind if I make a call?"

"Not at all," he replied, steering her out of the building. Serena pulled out her cell and Endymion knew he would shamelessly eavesdrop on the conversation. Someone answered on the second ring.

"You really need to leave the potion brewing to Luna," she instructed by way of greeting.

"How'd you—" Sammy sputtered indignantly on the other line. "Doesn't matter. Potion's for my apprenticeship. Aunt Eos[5] will kill me if she hears I'm not working on it."

"I didn't say you couldn't work on it," Serena huffed, "I'm just telling you not to blow up Luna's lab."

"Whatever, I'll be careful."

"Just don't add the aconite."

"Do you even know what it looks like?"

"Look brat, I'm just trying to save you a beating from Luna. I know my poisons, so don't use it or I'll kick your ass the next time I see you."

"Fine," he conceded. "So did you see anything about my love life?"

Serena rolled her eyes. Why did he always have to ask that? "Bye Sammy."

"Had to try."

"Bye!"

* * *

"So you're a Witch as well?" Endymion asked after they were shown to an isolated table. He was still stunned by her revelation. It wasn't everyday he met a psychic Witch let alone find out that one was his mate. When she didn't reply he continued, "What coven are you from?"

Serena paused in her scrutiny of her menu before softly replying, "I'm not a Witch. But a lot of my family members are from the Solas na gealaí gile Coven."

Endymion frowned, not liking how she'd said that. She'd seemed sad about not being a Witch and part of him was desperate to comfort her. "There are a couple of Witches in my pack from that coven," he supplied.

She eyed him over her menu. "I know," she answered before going back to her task. She'd forgotten to eat this morning and everything was looking good right now. Food always distracted her from talking about Witches. "Three are my cousins."

Endymion filed the information away for later perusal. He tended to avoid doing business with the Witches, while some of the previous alphas from his pack hadn't minded at all. Maybe, he mused, he would have found her a lot sooner if he had. After all, Elysian owed its continued existence to Witches.

"That reminds me," she started, finally putting the menu down, "why isn't your building warded?"

Leaning back in his chair, he frowned. "I thought you weren't a Witch."

She shrugged, "Wards are something I'm very sensitive to."

"I have other safety measures in effect."

Serena nodded, knowing that she wouldn't get an answer even if she did ask. And the more she talked about Witches, the more clues she'd end up giving him to figuring out that she was a Witch. A very useless one at that.

"So, Sapphire tells me that we might be dealing with a Berserker?" she asked, finally getting down to business. "Why not a werewolf? Is there a possibility that we might be dealing with something else?"

"From what Sapphire's told me, it's the only plausible explanation," he answered, placing one foot in the rung of her chair and shifting it in his direction. "I'd have to look at either a current corpse or the autopsy reports to be sure, but it sounds like something a loup-garou would do."

She nodded, completely ignoring the possessive act. Shifters were territorial creatures. It was something that she'd suffered through more than once and knew better than to point it out. He probably wasn't even aware that he was doing it.

"I have a copy of the files with me and arranging for you to look at the current victim won't be a problem," she informed him. "So, why do you think he's targeting these particular women?" Though Sapphire had told her why the wolf in question might be targeting their victims, she needed to hear it from someone else.

He shrugged in reply. "Loups-garous are the only race of shifters who can infect and turn others into our kind. The other races have only one option when it comes to replication: mating. The wolf in question can't be a werewolf. I or someone else would have spotted the perpetrator by now. New wolves are under constant surveillance until it's clear that they can handle the Change on their own. And even then they're still monitored."

She raised an eyebrow at that. "Sounds like you guys don't trust werewolves."

"It isn't about trust," he coolly informed her. "It's about safety. New wolves are dangerous to the entire supernatural community until they're taught how to control their Wolf. Moon-mad killers usually don't have the decency or the tact to hide the dead bodies and they usually target people they know."

His matter-of-fact attitude greatly unnerved her. But what he was saying made sense. Before she could ask another question, their waitress arrived to take their order.

Endymion looked on amusedly while she ordered what seemed like half the menu. He wasn't sure she'd be able to pack all that food away. She wasn't of were-kind, didn't possess that unnatural metabolism that made those that were like him crave food all the time. She became uncomfortable under his assessing gaze.

"I'm hungry, all right!" she grumbled in defense of herself.

"I didn't say anything."

She narrowed her eyes at him, having long since lost her fear. "You were thinking about it."

"Thinking about what?"

Her eyes turned to slits. "Tell me something about Berserkers."

"They're the perfect kind of killers," he answered. "The human half is suppressed to the point of inexistence. But the wolf retains that human intelligence, can even mimic human behavior to the point where you'll never detect the switch. Something traumatic usually happens for them to give up complete control to the wolf. In this case, it sounds like a mate was lost and the wolf is doing everything in its power to find someone exactly like the one it's lost." He shrugged. "It's a useless endeavor. Mating isn't anything like marriage. You can't divorce or replace your mate with someone else. Once you've found each other, there's no walking away. Even death can't separate a mated pair."

Serena shivered, feeling a chill of foreboding. Put like that, mating for life didn't sound as romantic as her mated family members made it out to be.

She cleared her throat. "So, wanna look at some autopsy reports?"

He shifted his chair to sit closer than he knew she would've liked and inwardly smirked, knowing she'd gotten his warning. Once they were mated, he was never letting her go. She wouldn't even be able to escape him in death.

* * *

AN: So did you guys like my early Christmas present?

Yes, I know I made Raye seem more powerful than Serena. This just means that she's great at seeing past events. And that she has something extra to defend herself should the need arise. And really, Jared's kinda biasXD

And since you guys won't be hearing from me until mid-January, wanted to wish you all a happy holidays!

[1]Cahan is the Irish derivative of cath, meaning "battle" or "warrior"

[2]ESP stands for extrasensory perception.

[3] Nemae is the Greek goddess of the new moon. She's an offspring of Zeus and Selene.

[4]What Jared is referring to is the fact that MID measures psychic Talent from 0-10. So yeah, Serena and Raye are very good in their respective fields

[5] Eos (Dawn, a Greek goddess) was Selene's sister.


	9. Of Inexplicable Actions

AN: It's been a while, but I hope you guys like this chapter since it was so hard to write the first part!

Happy reading!

* * *

**Chapter Eight: Of Inexplicable Actions  
**

Serena paused in her long-winded explanation and peered at Endymion through her lashes. He was watching her through hooded eyes, intent, focused, as he slowly rubbed his heated thighs against hers. A sizzling spike of heat went through her. Repressing a shiver, she quickly looked away.

Serena found that while she couldn't seem to look straight at him for more than a second, she couldn't stop looking at him either. And of course, every time he caught her staring, he would retaliate.

He had made his interest in her abundantly clear. And while she'd been polite and tried to keep a firm distance between them, he had maneuvered his chair until he had her legs trapped against his powerful thighs. His skin was like an inferno, sending sparks of heat racing through her every time they accidentally touched.

God, why did he have to be so sexual?_ 'More like why is he trying to seduce me in a family-oriented restaurant?' _she thought with a slight frown. She knew from their earlier encounter that he was built as hard as a brick wall and that when they touched, she could easily get lost in the sensation of him pressing against her.

Serena inwardly groaned. She was not going to let a simple attraction to this wolf get the best of her. She had too much sense and self-respect to even contemplate letting him touch her again.

She knew how this would all play out. She wasn't going to be another toy for him to play with and abandon once he'd had his fill. Unmated shifters like Endymion always left ruined victims in their wake. They took and left marks that would never fade. They played at love until they found the real thing, with nary a thought for the women they left behind. And though she could feel the weight of his heavy, brooding stare, she knew she had to stop letting her gaze stray to his. She didn't need that: reminders of what she'd never have.

Endymion's cell phone beeped. Scowling, he glanced down to identify the caller.

Serena raised a brow in curiosity when he didn't answer the phone. "You should get that, you know."

"I know," he answered. Waving a hand over the folders that littered their table, he asked, "These autopsy reports are mine, correct?"

"Yes," she replied, watching him warily, "just in case you notice something important at a later date."

He nodded, helping her gather up and rearrange the files.

Once he finished settling their bill, Endymion stood up, a lithe, male movement of grace and sheer power. He towered over her. With his wide shoulders and muscular frame, he made her feel intensely feminine.

"Let's go," he said, motioning for her to stand up.

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Serena ignored his proffered hand and made her way toward the exit.

The feel of his heated gaze on her, made her both nervous and oddly excited to have him at her back. God, he was probably ogling her backside!

Serena quickly made her way to her black SUV. She reached out to unlock the door, only to be stopped by a hand on her wrist. Startled, Serena spun around.

He let go of her wrist. Endymion smirked at her as if he knew something she didn't. "Forgetting something, aren't you?" he purred.

Serena flushed in embarrassment. She'd been in such a hurry to get away from him, she'd forgotten to hand him the files. "Slipped my mind," she muttered at she rummaged through her bag.

Bemused, he asked, "Anything else?"

Pausing in her search, Serena tilted her head, watching him with wary eyes, "Not that I'm aware of."

"The morgue?" he prompted.

She gave him a blank look before her blue eyes lit with remembrance. "Oh right. Sorry," she mumbled, just barely stopping herself from stammering in mortification. While they'd been going over the autopsy reports, she'd called the coroner's office to set up the appointment so Endymion could have a look at the freshest corpse they had.

"I'll pick you up at ten."

"No," she informed him, "I'll come get you."

"I prefer to drive myself."

"Yeah," Serena stated with a scowl, "so do I."

"Do you always get what you want?"

Serena's eyes narrowed as she instantly went on alert. His voice had turned serious, too serious to be discussing just their riding arrangement. She didn't know what he was trying to get at, but she wasn't biting.

She leaned in close to him, pressing her lips against his ear. "I'm not going to play this game with you."

Endymion felt the whisper of her lips against his skin. The warmth of her breath against his ear set his heart pounding, making his blood surge hotly through his veins. He inhaled the scent of her. Strawberries and vanilla could be so intoxicating.

"I don't need to play games," he informed her, his voice huskier than he intended. Her close proximity had every instinct in him quivering; the need to take her, right here, right now, and show everyone that she belonged to him raged through him. Fighting the animalistic urge merely served to heighten the craving, until the wolf's fur rasped along the inside of his skin.

Serena inhaled sharply. She could hear her own heart thundering in her ears. Up close he was overpowering. His voice was mesmerizing, his blue eyes dark with a desire he didn't try to hide from her. She could feel the hard column of his thighs pressing against her legs. "Your arrogance is showing."

He knew she wanted him. She couldn't hide her reaction to him. "Oh really," he murmured, bending his head to the invitation of her bare neck. With her hair in a tight bun, it left the vulnerable curve of her neck exposed to the brush of his lips. His teeth scrapped over her racing pulse in a slow, dangerous gesture. "All I have to do is touch you and you'd be mine."

Serena closed her eyes in dazed rapture as his tongue swept over her skin, the moist roughness had her on her tiptoes. She tilted her head to further expose the curve of her neck. Her skin tingled, screamed out for more.

"You taste so good," he throatily whispered against a patch of skin. His teeth nipped at her tender flesh briefly, a growl emanating from his chest. She cried out when he licked his way across her skin once more.

"Please, do something," she cried hoarsely, her thighs tightening on his as he pushed his cock deep into the 'v' of her thighs. God did she love the feel of his mouth on her bare skin. She whimpered in helpless lust. She wanted him so badly it was starting to drive her insane.

Endymion lifted his bent head, allowing his preternatural senses to stretch and make a quick sweep of the area. It wouldn't do for them to be interrupted while he was trying to make a point. Decision made, his hands found her fine-boned wrists and drew her arms around his neck, adjusting her body's position until she was aligned against his hard, masculine frame. His grip was firm, but gentle as he was terrified of hurting her. His arms surrounded her, his thighs pressed against hers, forcing her back until he had her pinned against the car.

Endymion's arms tightened around Serena, locking her in a vice-like grip, wanting to imprint her into his very bones. And she fit so perfectly in his arms, as if she'd been made just for him.

Serena was immediately engulfed in flames, desire wracked throughout her form, making her weak with need. His heavy erection was pressed firmly against her stomach, spreading flames over her skin. She felt as if she were aflame. "What did you do to me?" she gasped, her blood pumping, rushing through her being.

She trembled in his grip, her back arching against the driver's side door as a desperate moan escaped from her throat, the sound so erotic, was a challenge that drove him to the brink. He drew her hips closer to him and the rest of the world seemed to fall away.

Tilting her head, she looked up at his face, only to be captured by the intent in his hungry eyes. Something fluttered in her stomach. His head descended toward hers, his mouth taking possession of hers before she could protest.

Lush and full, her rosy lips felt smooth as silk, their weight exquisite against his.

Serena stopped thinking altogether as her senses took over and she drowned in the sensation. She had wanted to kiss him, the need so overwhelming there was no hope of fighting it. Giving in to the urge, she kissed him with all the passion that was in her. He tasted of danger. She whimpered against his lips, needing more. She grew drunk on lust…on desire…on him.

Drawing her to him in a crushing embrace, he deepened the kiss. His tongue swept into her mouth and the taste of him was intoxicating. His tongue touched hers, slid deep within her mouth to get a better taste, and feasted.

As aggressive as he, Serena bucked upwards and wrapped her legs around his waist. He cupped the fullness of her buttocks in his large hands.

At last she broke away from him and pressed desperate kisses to the strong line of his jaw and neck. His skin was so smooth. She breathed in deep and moaned. He smelled so glorious, so delicious, spicy and woodsy. It was an orgasmic experience just to breathe him in.

She undulated hard against his cock as it strained against her heat. Moans escaped her mouth only to be swallowed by his.

His mouth moved from her neck, along her collarbone, licking and biting as he weaved a path back to the collar of her suit jacket and the rise of her throbbing breasts.

Serena felt as if she was burning alive. Her nipples hardened, jutting against the soft material of her shirt. If he didn't touch them soon, she was going to explode. And if he did, she was likely to explode anyway. She was close, so very close to orgasm it terrified her.

Her fingers clutched him to her. Terror at her impending orgasm was enough to override her mindless craving for him. Serena's hands gripped his powerful arms where they grasped her buttocks. "Need to stop," she gasped, fighting for control.

"Please stop," she whimpered, her nails bit into his shoulders as she arched restlessly against the feel of his mouth against her skin. She felt overwhelmed, her skin overly sensitive, pulsating with fever lust.

Endymion stilled at the sound of her soft plea. He pulled back from her, staring down at her with eyes glittering with lust and confusion. Her skin was flushed but she was carefully averting her face, rejecting him. Her beckoning heat lured him. Fear mixed with confusion and arousal. It was a heady mixture that sent his own pulse pounding, his erection jerking in response. He couldn't make sense of her behavior as he battled with the animal instinct to finish what they'd started. But he would never hurt her, force himself on her. The wolf suddenly understood the extreme possessiveness that gripped males during the mating dance, understood why some of them turned close to feral.

Endymion quickly removed his hands from their resting place. He knew that the longer she stayed in his presence, the worse the temptation to touch her would grow. The feel of her body sliding over his as she got into a standing position was torturous and almost undid him.

"Don't ever do that to me again," Serena growled, annoyed at the way her frame shook with withdrawal. She grew desperate to remove his taste from her lips. Glaring at him, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

He caught her wrist, pulling her hand away from her mouth. "Stop that," he growled in a rumbling voice, "Or I'll kiss you again."

"Will you let go now?" she coolly asked, gritting her teeth against the pleasurable heat that raced through her form at his touch. Serena glanced at her watch, deliberately ignoring the corresponding flare of desire in his eyes.

Endymion reluctantly let go of her hand and put some much needed distance between them. He crossed his arms over his chest, eyes narrowed on her.

Serena rummaged through her bag until she found the files. She hesitantly handed them to him, making sure that there was no accidental skin contact.

He took the files without complaint.

Serena reached for the driver's door just as Endymion did. She hurriedly pulled her hand back to avoid contact.

"I'll pick you up tomorrow," he stated, his voice brooking no argument.

With barely a nod of acknowledgment, Serena slid behind the wheel and slammed the door with unnecessary force. Her breath was audible in the close confines of the car.

Groaning, Serena leaned her head back against the headrest. Biting hard on her lower lip, she swallowed hard. She should have stopped him, slapped him, done anything other than participate. She gingerly touched her tingling lips where his kiss lingered; it felt like a brand, making her go liquid with desire for him. He made her weak and pliant.

_'Oh my God,'_ she thought, something akin to panic welling up within her as the weight of what she'd almost done finally dawned on her. She'd almost had sex against her car…in public…in _broad daylight_.

She definitely shouldn't have participated.

* * *

Serena felt as if her head was about to implode. With every inhalation, her head seemed to throb in righteous retribution. Closing her sensitive eyes, she rested her forehead against the steering wheel of her SUV, glad that she'd managed to get into the underground garage before her sudden sensitivity to sunlight caused some major damage. As it was, she'd barely just made it to headquarters.

And she knew exactly who to blame for her predicament. She'd been fine before getting in contact with that alpha prick. Damn it, her mind-numbing headache was probably a result of her haphazardly put together shield, a barrier merely holding the images back. She could either remove it herself and slowly go through the visions or let it crack and suffer the excruciating pain that came along with it.

Serena moaned, wanting nothing more than to get to her office and hide.

It took her longer than she'd expected to slow her heart rate down and tear the shield apart. It hurt like a bitch, but the influx of images slowly numbed the pain. Really, it was just like taking off a Band-Aid; it only hurt while being pulled off.

It was minutes before the overflow of images stopped and unfurled themselves into precise tree diagrams with clear choices and predicted outcomes and only a split second before she jerked her head up in surprise, eyes going wide.

'_What the hell?'_ she thought momentarily confused about what her mind was telling her. She needed to speak with Sapphire…

'_No,'_ the less frazzled part of her mind replied, _'Andrew would know more.' _

Serena clutched the steering wheel with enough force that her knuckles went white. _'Andrew never lies.'

* * *

_

Endymion briskly strode down the hallway, stopping at his executive assistant's desk.

Elizabeth looked up. Her face split into a huge grin. "Had a nice lunch break?"

Endymion couldn't help but smirk. Yes, he'd had a very nice lunch break. But there was no way in hell he was telling her that. Elizabeth was a stunning blonde in her mid-twenties and he'd picked her as his assistant because she had excellent secretarial skills. But Endymion was very much aware of her predilection for chitchat. In fact, she was probably the firm's biggest gossip; she was always the first to know. That at times worked in his favor, as she always felt the need to pass on any relevant work related gossip to him. But he was very certain that by the end of the day, news of his unexpected lunch date with Serena would be spread throughout the building. That's only if she hadn't already spread the news.

He sighed in exasperation. Just what he needed: to be the center of office gossip. Not that they weren't constantly talking about him via e-mail. "Any calls?" he asked.

"Yes," she replied and rolled her eyes heavenward before gathering a pile of post-its from her desk. "Sapphire called. Said it was important. Helios called twice," here she grinned viciously, "I think I pissed him off. You really gotta do something about that kid's bratty attitude. Anyways, some guys from R&D have been calling incessantly asking me to tell you to check your email."

He nodded and headed for his office. Once he'd settled into his custom-made chair, he tapped in the password on his laptop keyboard, and then scanned the e-mails that had arrived in his absence.

Endymion pinched the bridge of his nose. Of course those bastards from R&D would flood his inbox. It wasn't as if he hadn't been in a meeting with them this morning. Drumming his fingers on the glass desk, he took a deep breath, willing the need to destroy something to go away. He was probably being antsy because of her. And though she'd left hours ago, the scent of strawberries and vanilla still lingered. Or maybe he was imagining it.

The need to be around her was constant and overwhelming. It had calmed down somewhat after their initial encounter. But he was still racked by the need to ravage her, adore her, mark her. It had taken all of his willpower not to follow her back to MID. Especially since it had become quite clear to him that she fit the victims' profile to a T. He would definitely have to keep her out of danger.

Pushing his hair out of his eyes, he considered his next step. Though Serena was proving herself to be tenacious and determined, he knew that the second he asked more of her than her mind was able to handle, he might lose her. And that was unacceptable. So, where did that leave him?

He smirked, realizing he already had an unlikely ally in her body; it already recognized his. And he had every intention of using that against her. He was more than willing to use underhanded tactics to win his mate. By the time he finished, Serena would be enslaved by her hunger and only he would be able to slack it.

But even the wolf knew she had to come to him willingly. Doubt could not exist between them, for when the wolf broke its bonds and animal hunger took over during that initial claiming, she had to trust in him absolutely. Otherwise they'd both break.

It would take patience, but Endymion was used to stalking prey without break for long periods at a time.

He sighed, then reached for the secure phone and punched in a number he knew better than his own.

* * *

Serena swiftly made her way down the hallway, still flabbergasted by the vision she'd experienced in the car. Her hands were still shaking when she finally reached Andrew's office. She impatiently waited for the verification system to identify her before stepping into chaos.

The floor of Andrew's office was littered with opened boxes and bubble wrap. Andrew was sitting at his desk, his form hunched over as he examined something in his hand. He was wearing a stained lab coat and a lighted magnifying headset covered most of his face. He pulled at one of the proofing loops, bringing the object of his abject concentration closer to his face.

Serena crossed her arms against her chest and leaned against one of the glass walls of his office, deciding to simply let him be for the moment.

She knew the moment he noticed her, it was only seconds before a chill snaked up her spine, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, signaling their warning to her brain. One moment Andrew was sitting at his desk being a geek and in the next, he was ripping the magnifying headset off and kicking boxes out of the way as he stalked toward her.

"'Drew?" Serena asked, completely unnerved by the intensity of his scrutinizing gaze. His face went unnaturally calm at the sound of her voice. In the blink of an eye, she found herself being flattened against the wall she'd been leaning against. She didn't need her precognition to know that if she didn't diffuse the situation, something bad was going to happen. And it was gonna hurt.

Serena tried not to whimper or look into his eyes. She had no doubt she was in the presence of a predator.

'_Don't provoke the angry wolf,'_ Serena mentally chanted before she opened her eyes. For the first time, she looked directly at him. His expression was calm, but his eyes stopped her cold. Deep and hot with fury, feral golden orbs met hers without their usual teasing light. The intensity in his features almost frightened her. But he wasn't angry with her, she could tell, but Andrew was pissed.

Making her voice very submissive and extremely non-confrontational, Serena said, "Andrew, your claws are out." She could feel them pressed against the vulnerable skin of her shoulder blades and she was terrified enough to admit it to herself.

"I would never hurt you," was his guttural response, his voice caught between humanity and the animal within. He did not loosen his hold one bit.

Serena had never directly spoken to the predator lurking beneath the charming surface. She knew it existed even if the beast had never come out around her before. She'd known him since her first year at MID. She should have expected something like this to happen sooner or later. He was a wolf and he'd been trying to take her over since the moment he'd laid eyes on her. Andrew might not be the most predatory of wolves, but there was no mistaking the fact that though he might play nice, when it was time to bite, he'd go for the throat. And he'd placed her under his protection. He would never hurt her.

"I know," she murmured with a wry smile, "I'm just kinda confused as to why you have me up against a wall. A little kinky, even for you, 'Drew."

"Who's the wolf I smell on you?" he questioned harshly.

Serena groaned in embarrassment when she felt a rush of blood creeping up her neck. She did _not_ need to know that. She really didn't. She was never swapping spit with another wolf again. Not if it left his scent all over her like some brand of ownership. No wonder Rubeus always acted like she was his.

Serena's eyes snapped open when she felt his claws flexing against her skin. _'Note to self, babble like an idiot when a wolf's got his sharp claws close to your skin. Silence makes them cranky.' _

Okay, why was she here again?

Serena sighed. She really needed to nip this thing in the bud. She knew she would never understand the beast that prowled in the darkness behind the beauty of his eyes, but the man she knew like the back of her hand—his motivations, what made him tick, what made him smile—Serena knew these things. She cleared her throat, knowing that whatever she did next could make or break their friendship.

Making her movements deliberate, she cradled his head in her hands. Staring straight into his eyes, she said, "You really need to cut this possessive shit out. Like right now."

Stunning golden eyes stared back at her frozen in shock.

"Yeah buddy," she chirped, "that kinda stuff doesn't fly with me. Remember, we've had this talk before."

Serena didn't know what she'd expected as a response, but Andrew bursting out laughing wasn't one of them.

She flexed her shoulders upon noticing his tight grip had loosened. She was relieved not to feel the sharp points of his claws rasping against her skin. _'Well,'_ she thought in exasperation,_ 'at least his beast is receding.' _

"You always know how to make me laugh," he stated after taking a deep breath. Resting his forehead against hers, he quietly added, "What would I do without you?"

"Get yourself a girlfriend?" she teased. He growled at her in response. "Fine, I'll stay the number one chica in your heart for now. Seriously, I know you can't help being territorial and all that, but could you kinda tone it down?"

He chuckled, his green eyes sparkling back at her. "I'll try as long as you keep my beast under control."

"I'll try," she replied with an exaggerated sigh. But on a more serious note, she added, "As long as you are there for me, I'll always have your back."

His lips quirked in a half smile. "Always?"

"What, you want that in blood?"

"That's always an option."

Serena smacked one of his ears in retaliation. "I don't break promises, Wolf," she coolly stated. "I'll watch your back just like I know you'll always keep an eye out for me."

"I'll always look out for you," he vowed.

Serena rolled her eyes and kissed his cheek. "You're really silly, you know that?"

In response, Andrew wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer. With his chin nestled against the top of her head, Serena closed her eyes to savor the moment and forced herself not to think about the future. She was still shaken enough that her Talent might take it as a sign to flood her mind. And at the moment, she really didn't want to know.

* * *

Endymion stepped into the upscale Italian restaurant near the Seattle Justice Center and looked around until he spotted Sapphire. His Beta was seating at a corner table, sipping a tall glass.

"Can I help you?" The hostess asked.

Startled, Endymion frowned at her before nodding in Sapphire's direction. "I'm meeting someone here."

The hostess nodded her understanding. Endymion crossed the tiled foyer and walked up a step into the partitioned dining area.

Sapphire looked up, giving him a weary smile. "Glad you could make it."

"You sounded anxious," he replied, cracking the menu open. "What's so important you had to drag me out of work?"

"You mean aside from Helios' relentless calls?" Sapphire replied with a smirk.

Endymion resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Yes, aside from that," he answered in exasperation. All right, so he really needed to give the kid a call.

Sapphire waited until after the waiter left with their order to answer. "We got a tip this morning about an unknown wolf in Morrigan territory."

Endymion's interest was instantly peaked. He knew how belligerent Morrigan's alpha, Brina could be.[1]

"Brina says to tell you she'll take care of the problem," here Sapphire rolled his eyes. With a put-upon sigh, he continued, "And if this rogue turns out to be your Berserker, she says she'll call you."

Endymion pinched the bridge of his nose. Just what he needed: an impulsive, warmonger out for blood. "Tell her I appreciate the forewarning."

Sapphire raised his glass in salute. "Will do."

The waiter arrived with Endymion's drink and left.

"On a more serious note," Sapphire soberly started, "Queen Nehelenia has sent the council a warning."[2]

Endymion mentally groaned. Could things get any worst? Apparently they could. That crazy bloodsucking leech coming out of the woodwork once again was definitely a problem. After the loup-garou had signed a tentative treaty with the region's only vampire queen, she'd gone quiet. At first, it had worried Endymion. But after a decade, he'd grown lax in keeping track of their enemy's movement, which was never a good idea. After all, she and her Family had massacred every other queen in the region and thereby had allied the remaining vampire Clans in the region under her rule, [3] she was a dangerous and ruthless enemy. And as much as the Packs wanted to cull the number of vampires in the region, attacking one Clan would mean starting a war with the rest of the leeches.

Endymion's brows furrowed. The vampires in the region hadn't been making much of a nuisance of themselves during the last decade, except for the rogue ones MID occasionally had to deal with. What exactly could have irked the sleeping Queen out of silence? "What exactly does she want?"

Sapphire swiped his fingers through his short black hair. "She knows about the Berserker issue."

Endymion raised a brow, urging him to continue.

At that moment the food arrived. Both men watched the waiter bustle around nosily before making himself scarce.

Sapphire took a huge bite out of his Caesar salad before continuing. "Apparently, she's very unhappy with how ineffective we've been in catching this wolf. She wants him dead and out of her territory."

"Don't we all want him dead?"

"She's only bitching since some of the vamp-run clubs in Pack territory have started to lose clients."

Endymion pursed his lips in contemplation. After a moment, he answered, "I guess that is cause for concern on her part."

Having decimated half his meal, Sapphire set to attacking the basket of bread. "You had a meeting with Sere today, right? How'd it go?"

Endymion scowled at him over the rim of his glass. Only he was allowed so close to Serena. His scowl deepened. He hated the idea that Sapphire and his mate had any previous bonds. The very thought that Sapphire knew more about his mate than he did made him want to react with brutal violence. Endymion wanted to know everything there was to know about his mate. And now that he knew her name, doing a background check on her seemed like as good a place as any to start.

The feeling of something prickling his hand brought Endymion out of his reverie. He sheepishly loosened his grip on the wine glass and gently set it down. Already his accelerated healing was pushing the microscopic bits of glass from his skin. Clearing his throat, he said, "It went well."

Sapphire burst into a fit of laughter. "I can definitely see that," he snickered after calming down. "So she's really your mate?"

Endymion was scrutinizing him with a wide, unblinking gaze. He took his time setting his glass back down on the table before saying quietly, "She's the one."

"Glad to hear it," Sapphire replied after taking a sip from his glass. "So, Sere's the reason Helios has been abusing his phone privileges?"

Endymion frowned at the nickname. "No, they haven't met yet. But I think it best if she meets the Pack soon."

Sapphire choked on a piece of chicken. "Are you crazy?" he asked in between coughing fits. "You aren't even mated yet!"

Endymion's frown deepened. "It seems easier that way."

"No. Bad idea, man," Sapphire responded after downing the rest of his glass. "You can't just send an innocent lamb into the wolf's den and _not_ expect it to get ripped to shreds. Are you forgetting that we're _predators_?"

A strained silence fell. Tension crackled on the air. The waiter, who had returned to refill their glasses, looked from one to the other uneasily before making a quick escape.

"What are you trying to say?" Endymion finally glowered.

Sapphire didn't cower under his burning gaze. In fact, his words hardened in response. "What exactly do you think will happen when you present her to the Pack while you're still unmated?" Sapphire quietly asked after lacing his fingers together. "They're going to eat her alive when they realize she's not alpha material in any way. And no one wants their alpha mated to a weak female."

Endymion growled at the implied insult. The wolf inside him flexed its claws—there was nothing wrong with the female who was his mate.

Sapphire continued, ignoring the spike in killing intent. "She's weak-willed, a mediocre Witch, and her Talent can easily be seen as less than useless."

Endymion felt the beast within trying to take over. He could already tell that his nails had turned into claws, and that his incisors had lengthened into deadly fangs. His eyes had probably changed and yet he didn't care. No one insulted his mate. "I dare you to continue," he ordered in a menacingly guttural voice.

Sapphire didn't flinch; he didn't react at all. He wasn't the least bit fazed by Endymion's bared fangs or by the alpha's fury. After a moment regarding his alpha with cool unreadable eyes, he finally said, "Serena's fragile, Endymion. She lacks confidence not only in her abilities, but in her self as well. The Pack will not accept her as your mate." Sapphire paused to rub his temple. "You're going to have to court her slowly. She's had bad experiences with men who think she's their mate. And if you spring this on her, she'll reject the mating bond."

Both man and beast stopped cold. To be unwanted by a mate was a nightmare beyond comprehension. Endymion's heart clenched at the thought that she might do just that.

"She isn't a shifter," Sapphire continued, staring into his alpha's uncomprehending gaze, "rejecting the bond won't affect her the way it's affecting you. She can move on, continue her life and easily forget that you ever existed."

"No," he bit out, shaking his head roughly.

Sapphire stared at him sadly. "It's happened before. You know that. Just remember to take things slowly." Sapphire gently squeezed one of Endymion's clenched fists. "I know how Serena operates. She isn't ready for something like this. Push this mating on her and she'll shut you out."

Endymion held back a groan, remembering their last encounter this morning. She hadn't wanted his kiss, but he'd forced it on her anyway.

A forlorn pair of golden eyes stared unseeingly into Sapphire's. Endymion had already made his first mistake.

Endymion knew he was going to have to change his strategy completely.

* * *

Serena exited the elevator and unhurriedly made her way toward her SUV. Deactivating the alarm on the car made it a lot easier to spot in the row of black vehicles. She was still surprised she even remembered where she'd parked after the day she'd had.

She tried not to think about how much the events in Andrew's office had shaken her. She'd been all daring and full of bravado and it had saved her ass. She'd gone straight to the shooting range after she'd left his office to test out the automatic Andrew had given her in recompense for freaking her out. The relentless monotony of pulling the trigger, reloading bullets, and focusing on hitting the target had gone a long to helping her regain the control she'd lost during the day.

"Serena!"

The sound of her name being shouted when she'd thought she was alone made her immediately go on alert. Serena deliberately took her time in turning around to spot the perpetrator.

A slow smile made its way onto her lips once she realized it was only Lita. She waved the older agent over. Serena couldn't help but laugh when the elemental warden jogged up to her and enveloped her in a bear hug.[4]

"Long time no see, Amazon Goddess," Serena greeted after returning the taller woman's hug.

"More like you've been avoiding me," Lita admonished in that throaty voice of hers.

Serena had the grace to blush. All right, so she had been avoiding the other agent, especially after the whole debacle with Setsuna handing her case over to Lita. Still, Serena denied the accusation, lying through her teeth. "Have not! This whole serial killer case is taking over my life."

Lita chuckled deeply before asking, "How about we do dinner this weekend?"

Serena instantly perked up. "Are you cooking?"

"I learned my lesson the first time. There's no way I'm ever letting you near my state-of-the-art kitchen again."

Serena sputtered in protest. "I didn't mean to kill your stove-oven! How was I supposed to know it would explode like that?"

"I don't know. Common sense?" Lita answered sarcastically.

"Whatever." Serena answered, waving a dismissive hand. "You'd better be ready to be eaten out of house and home."

"Bottomless pit, don't I always feed you?"

"True," Serena answered with a thoughtful pause, "I'll call you on Friday and we can make plans?"

Lita nodded in reply. "Definitely."

Serena waited until she was gone before getting in her car. The ride home was uneventful.

Pulling into her parking place, she exited her car and took out her keys.

Her ears twitched with awareness. She paused and furtively glanced over her shoulder. The communal parking lot was empty and she spied nothing out of the ordinary. She continued the walk to her door, though she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being stalked.

'_Okay self, it__'__s either you__'__re being really paranoid or something__'__s followed you home,__'_Serena thought as she fingered the gun at her hip. Shoulders tensed, she hastened her pace and hurriedly made it to her door.

Keys in the keyhole, Serena spotted movement out of the corner of her eye. Reaching for her gun, she whirled around. The parking lot was still empty. But the feeling of being watched still hadn't left her. She knew something was there, watching her in the shadows.

Minutes passed while Serena stood motionless, one hand on her gun, the other on the door handle.

Slowly, the feeling of being watched left. Her hands trembling slightly, Serena unlocked the door and stepped inside her warded home. The sensation of safety enveloped her as she leaned against the doorframe and looked into the darkness of her home.

Outside, by a cluster of trees, a pair of golden eyes momentarily flashed in the darkness.

* * *

AN: YAY! An update! I spent half of my Spring Break writing this you guys, and I even started working on the next chapter (since half of it was supposed to be part of this chapter). I'm still waiting for my new laptop to arrive in the mail. It's a Toshiba and everything that's important fanfic-wise has now been uploaded to Google Documents so this won't happen again. Plus Google Doc totally feeds my need to color code. So expect the wait between this chapter and the next to be short.

[1] Brina is a Celtic name meaning "protector."

[2] Queen Nehelenia was the biggest baddie to come out of the Super S season (well in my opinion anyways). She's the dark queen of the moon and she had this obsession with being young and beautiful forever. I just had to make her a vampire! She totally fits the profile.

[3]Vampires operate in Clans, but live in Families. So those who were sired by the same vampire are Family, but they can live in different Clans if they want. A vampire will always be part of a Family, but can be Clanless as Clans are more about where you live rather than who you hold your allegiance to.

[4]I couldn't really find the name for a psychic who can manipulate the weather (I would say psychokinesis, but that's just another name for telekinesis and Lita doesn't have that ability). So yeah, as an elemental warden, she has the ability to manipulate electricity and therefore the ability to generate thunderstorms, tornadoes and the like.


	10. Interlude II

AN: Um it's been awhileXD And this is pretty short, but I think it's been long enough that I should really update. Still haven't finished what was supposed to originally been this chapter. And I'm resisting the urge to edit this story more (which has been making my ability to write chapter 9 horribly long and frustrating).

* * *

**Interlude**

Jerked awake, Serena bolted upright in bed, prepared to destroy whatever it was causing that infernal buzzing. For only something truly unholy could make such a racket.

It took her several sleep-deprived moments to realize the noise was coming from her cell. She blindly groped around her nightstand before capturing the vibrating phone.

"Hello," she answered, glaring balefully at her alarm clock. Four A.M. Who in their right mind thought she'd be able to hold a decent conversation at this ungodly hour? It was really too bad she couldn't strangle whoever was on the other side.

"I'm so glad you answered!" an inappropriately chipper voice blared into her ear, "I hope I haven't awakened you."

Serena blinked. "Di?"

"Yes?"

"It's four in the morning," Serena answered, pinching the bridge of her nose in exasperation. She hadn't spoken to Diana—Luna and her mate, Artemis' daughter—in months. The young witch had recently moved to study magic at a prep school in England.

"Oh," Diana mumbled in response. There was a slight pause. She brightly added, "I did miscalculate then. Well it's noon here and I don't have a lot of time before my next lesson starts."[1]

Serena scowled at the phone, "What is it then?"

"You're really cranky this morning. You should really drink some more orange juice," Diana advised, "Mama says a lack of Vitamin C can—"

"I'm hanging up now," Serena exclaimed. The last thing Serena wanted was to be stuck on the phone with one too-eager-to-help-doesn't-know-the-meaning-of-'shut up' blabber mouth. Especially this early in the morning.

"Wait," Diana blurted, "I've got a message from dad!"

For a moment, it seemed as if her heart had stopped. Serena clenched the phone, trying to remember how to breathe. She needed to keep her cool. If Artemis had gotten in contact with Diana, it could only mean one thing. After all, he was Mina's familiar.

"What did he say," Serena whispered.

"He said not to worry. That Mina's alive," Diana chirped.

Serena released a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. _'Mina's alive,'_ she thought before flopping back down on the bed. It wasn't as if she hadn't known this; she could still feel the other psychic at the back of her mind. The problem had been not knowing _where_ the Ghostwalker had disappeared to and whether or not she'd gone rogue.

"Dad says you shouldn't worry about her status as an MID agent."

Serena closed her eyes, feeling as if some weight was being lifted off her shoulders. At least Mina hadn't turned criminal. Serena didn't know of one agent who'd tried to escape MID rule and had survived; MID policy wouldn't stand for it.

"Thanks Di. Tell Artie I said hi the next time you spot him in the astral plane."[2]

"I will," she practically sang. "Tell Mama I'll call her soon."

Serena hung up with a heavy sigh. _'Mina's okay,'_ she thought, relief flowing through her body. And the other psychic would continue to be fine as long as she had Artemis by her side. After all, Artemis had died to protect her and had stayed a ghost in order to continue doing so by becoming her spiritual familiar.

She flipped over and buried her face into the closest pillow. Though she was beyond relieved to hear that Mina was alright, a small part of her was furious with the Ghostwalker. After all she'd sacrificed in the search for her missing partner, Mina had taken the easy way out by using Diana as her messenger.

Serena's mind wandered to the three months she'd spent as a Sentinel. Mina's unknown status had been one of the reasons she'd allowed MID to turn her into a cold-blooded killer. She'd spent half the time sneaking around trying to discover if there was a hit out on Mina and the other half being judge, jury, and executioner. She hadn't been built to be a killer and her magic—what little she had of it—had viciously rebelled. If she hadn't suffered a psychotic break when she'd unwittingly almost gotten Amy killed, she would still be out there, spending her nights slowly losing herself.

Serena rolled over once again and stared at the ceiling. Except for the glow coming from her alarm, the room was completely enshrouded in darkness. There was no way she'd be able to sleep now, not with the way her mind was whirring with unanswered questions. And the possibility that she'd be besieged by nightmares or prophetic dreams was high. She wasn't at all sure she wanted to sleep. But maybe —just maybe— if she concentrated hard enough, she'd see something besides the usual carnage that haunted her dreams.

Serena tightly squeezed her eyes shut and thought of Mina.

* * *

Endymion hung up his cell and rocked back in his chair, staring out the window at his panoramic view of Elliott Bay. It was a beautiful sight, and one he never got tired of.

With a sigh, he wheeled his chair back to the safety of his desk. Through the glass office door, he could see Elizabeth at her own desk working. Or maybe she was gossiping online, one never knew with his secretary. At least she'd only given him a knowing grin this morning before they went over his itinerary for the day.

Endymion stretched against the chair back and stared mindlessly at the computer screen monitoring the markets. It didn't take much effort for his thoughts to lazily drift to the subject of his mate. He couldn't wait to see her again, to get a whiff of that intoxicating fragrance that continued to drive him out of his mind. Bold and delicate. Sweet yet tart. It seemed as if her womanly scent had been imprinted into his senses. Just the thought of her delectable scent was enough to make him hard and aching. Not to mention irritable as hell.

He was still torn and conflicted as to what his next move with her should be. He'd been prepared to wage an aggressive battle to win his mate over. But according to Sapphire, that would be the worst thing he could do and the last thing he wanted was to alienate his Chosen. But he had a feeling he'd already done that.

He didn't know what he'd been thinking yesterday when he'd cornered her. But the one thing he knew for certain was that when she'd challenged him, something in him had snapped. He'd been blindsided by the gut-twisting need to possess her. He had let the hunger take over. He'd been more than prepared to take against her car. But she'd freaked out.

He could understand why his actions might scare her.

He needed a new game plan. If his second-in-command was right, he'd have to slow his pacing. But he would still pursue her just as doggedly. And though knew he would never relent until he had her marked, the Beast in him was prepared to do whatever it took to make her his. Plus he was a mature adult, not a hormone driven adolescent. He could deny himself; he could control his base urges.

This was a game he couldn't afford to lose. And in this game, knowledge was power. The more he knew about her, the easier it would be for him to know how to act around. He wanted to know everything there was to know about her, which was probably why he'd ordered a background check on her. He'd been incensed by the fact that Sapphire knew more about his mate than he did and had taken the necessary steps to rectify the situation.

The sound of Elizabeth laughing brought him out of his thoughts. _'She's probably chatting up the mail man,'_ he thought with a scowl. Had he been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't heard the telltale squeak of the mail cart? He decided to firmly ignore what was going on outside the glass walls of his office.

Enymion peered up from his laptop when Harmony walked into his office. Her appearance put him squarely back into office-mode.

He raised an eyebrow as he took in her appearance; dressed in a tailored navy suit with a matching pair of pumps, her hair was a cascade of riotous black curls. He was quite curious about her visit. She never left her office on the thirtieth floor where she ran the IT department with an iron fist.

Closing the door behind her, she seated herself in front of his desk with one tiny rock of her chair to convey the necessary arrogance. Once she was comfortably seated, she crossed her long legs and tapped a thick folder against her thigh.

"What are you doing here?" he asked before she had a chance to open her mouth.

"So quick and to the point as always, cousin," she murmured, her eyes twinkling with mirth.

Endymion's expression remained impassive.

"Mind telling me why you had one of my people digging through MID's database?" she asked in an exasperated tone.

'_Oh,'_ he thought amusedly, she'd found out about his little excursion in her department. Leaning back against his chair, Endymion linked his fingers and smirked. "Not particularly."

"You really piss me off sometimes," she growled. "Did it ever cross your mind that I'd have a problem with you using one of my mages to hack into MID?"[3]

Endymion's shoulders lifted in an artless shrug. The thought hadn't even crossed his mind. "Not really."

Her lips pursed into a tight line. "I see."

He frowned at how terse she sounded. Though he was very awkward at times when it came to interacting with his family, he was certain he hadn't crossed any lines he wasn't meant to.

"I know you don't really care," she stated before standing up in a fluid motion. Walking up to his desk, she laid the folder on his desk, and added, "But I thought I'd personally deliver this to you since you'd been gracious enough to use my people to do your dirty work."

He didn't even blink at the censor he heard in her voice, he instead picked up the folder and skimmed through it. The thought of having a word with _her_ people did cross his mind. After all, he'd specifically asked for this information to be sent to him via email. He really needed to remind his employees exactly who was boss.

She headed toward the door, then paused and turned back. "I hope you find what you're looking for because my mage nearly died to get it."

"I'm sorry to hear that," he responded, sincerely concerned that one of his valuable technomages had been hurt. There was probably a reason few dared try to hack into MID.

"I hope you really mean that," Harmony stated from the doorway.

"I do," he implored, hoping she'd see the honesty in his eyes.

She left with a curt nod.

Once Harmony was gone, his thoughts lingered for a moment. He'd have to find a way to make this up to her. Not only because he hated the thought of her being angry with him (she was after all one of his more tolerable cousins), but also because he knew that she genuinely cared for those under her command. He hadn't even thought of where the information he wanted would be coming from. But the mage had succeeded from what he could see.

He glanced over at the day planner on his desk. He was meeting Serena around 11, by then he should at least have a decent idea of what kind of woman he was dealing with.

* * *

With a loud groan, Serena dropped her forehead against the messy surface of her desk. If she had to call one more pet store, she was going to skin the first cat she saw. Why had she agreed to call the local area breeders again?

Oh right, because she was trying to see where this attraction between Raye and Jared would go. In a very Mina-like move, she'd decided to play matchmaker and threw the two together as often as she could. And so far, she couldn't tell whether or not it was working. Sure they were more civil to each other, but that seemed to be the only progress they'd made. And she'd resisted the overwhelming urge to peek into the future. The nagging feeling that was her intuition kept insisting that she'd ruin their chances.

Lifting her head, she peeked through her fingers down at the list of remaining breeders to call. Fifteen. Dear God, how was she going to get through this? She and her big mouth. If she hadn't bitched and moaned about them not following the cat lead, she wouldn't have been stuck on the phone all morning.

With a heavy sigh, Serena pulled out her phone and emailed Raye the results of her latest inquiries.

At least she wasn't suffering alone.

* * *

_'How had things deteriorated to this?' _Raye thought in horror as she stared dumbfounded at the tall brunet holding a kitten in her direction.

Raye promptly looked away, only to have her eyes land on more of the pitiful creatures. She didn't know which was worst, the deplorable beasts staring curiously up at her or their manic breeder who kept insisting either she or Knight take one of the creatures home. She really needed to leave this place before she did the breeder—who'd turned out to be a tiger shapeshifter—or one of the pathetic creatures some harm.

_'At least he's been somewhat helpful,'_ she thought begrudgingly. She'd been pretty pissed when Serena had sent her on what seemed like a wild goose chase with her least favorite person. Really, what the hell did the missing cat have to do with anything?

She'd been more than ready to call Serena and cuss her out, but after they'd arrived at the ranch styled home and questioned the breeder about selling one of his prized cats to a man matching the description of their perp, Raye felt as if they were finally getting somewhere. Apparently their suspect had paid an obscene price for one of the older sterilized male cats. She really hadn't been prepared for the ambush that came next.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to hold one," she heard Knight say. Raye's head snapped back to look at him. She let her gaze turn stony when Knight actually took one of the dismal creatures into his arms.

Jared shrugged at her icy look and said, "They're tiny and fluffy." As if that actually explained why he was consorting with the enemy.

"She just darling, ain't she?" the shifter cooed at Knight as he petted the thing, which in turn purred at his touch. Raye turned away in disgust.

When her side buzzed, she quickly pulled out her phone and read the new message from Serena. Clutching the cell in a tight fist, she resisted the urge to punt it at either Knight's or the breeder's head. She did not want to spend the rest of the day being stared at by these wretched creatures.

_I really hate you right now, _she texted rapidly to the other psychic. _I'd rather be anywhere _but_ here. Aren't you the cat lover? _

_Would you rather be stuck in the office doing nothing?_ was Serena's miffed reply.

_Anywhere but here! _

_Better that we'd followed through instead of wondering later on._

Raye scowled at the reply. God she hated when Serena decided to be logical and actually make sense. _You're coming with me to Scion tomorrow night. End of. _There was no way she was going with Knight. If things continued as they were, her inevitable destruction would come a lot sooner. Plus the owner of _Scion_ was a vampire (a very weak one at that, she'd deduced since he had refused to meet during the day—even the threat of letting the public know his club was one of the killer's hunting ground hadn't budge him).

_Fine. But we're still meeting at your place tonight, right?_

Raye's brows furrowed in exasperation. _Yes. And stop sending me more locations. The last five were enough to grate on my last nerve. _

_There are 15 breeders left on the list. Bet you 3 of them breed only Maine Coons. _

Raye bit back a moan of despair. _Bitch._ The other breeders better had something useful or she was going to set something—or some_one_—on fire.

* * *

The decision to head for Amy's office was a simple one. Serena had finished talking to the last of the breeders (only four of the fifteen purely bred only Main Coons) and had decided to pursue one of their many other leads: the camera feed from the courthouse. It had taken a lot longer than anticipated to get the feed from the courthouse. And by the time they had gotten it, both she and Raye had forgotten about it.

She briefly knocked on the naiad's door before waltzing in. Amy, who was staring at her computer screen with a deep scowl, didn't even twitch in acknowledgment of her presence. She only garnered a reaction when she moved to perch on her desk.

"What do you want?" Amy asked tersely, eyes still on the screen.

"Um," Serena replied clumsily. She let her eyes roam over Amy's desk, which was littered with plastic CD casings. _'Okay so she's been a little busy,' _she thought in mild amusement, _'now how do I ask for the recordings without incurring her wrath?' _Clearing her throat, Serena tried again. "So have you gone over the courthouse feed yet?"

"Been kind of busy," Amy replied before picking up one of the casings. She frowned as she examined it. "Come back later today. I might be able to go over it then."

"O-okay," Serena stammered as she started to inch backwards toward to the door while Amy went back to entering more data. Serena paused in the doorway. "Um, Amy—one last thing?"

Amy looked up distractedly from her computer. "Have at it."

"Have you figured out what's wrong with the timeline the perp's been using?"

Sighing, Amy stopped fiddling with the disk in her hand and stared at her with a faint frown. "Not really," she replied, chewing on her bottom lip. "But I have a theory. Since he's trying to Change these women, the week of the full moon is going to be the most crucial. I don't think he has a certain day that he kills them. The full moon just confirms whether or not the vic's survived or not."

Serena frowned in concentration. "Yeah, that makes sense," she commented. "Do you think—"

The blaring of her phone interrupted her mid-sentence. Serena frowned at the ringtone. It was someone outside her contact list.

"You should answer that," Amy stated with a faint smile.

"Um yeah," Serena stammered, frowning at the unknown number. "I'll catch up with you later," she added before answering the phone.

"I'm picking you up in twenty minutes," a deep, familiar voice greeted, causing Serena's entire body to stiffen, "be ready."

Biting her lower lip, Serena forced herself to walk again. With some difficulty, she found her voice once again. "Good morning to you too."

"Morning," he answered, his low voice rumbling across her skin. For a moment, Serena's mind seized, scenes from their encounter the day before flashed through her mind, paralyzing her.

She shook her head in an effort to banish the thoughts. Clearing her throat, Serena primly replied, "I'd rather meet you at the coroner's office."

There was a brief chuckle over the line. "Are you afraid to be alone with me?"

_Yes!_ her mind screamed in quiet desperation. "No," she answered, voice clipped and dispassionate, "But I'd like to advise you to keep your hands to yourself."

He chuckled deeply. She shivered at the sound as it reverberated through her ear. "Dully noted sweetheart," he replied in dark intensity, making the hairs on her arms stand up, "I'll be seeing you."

_'Oh God,'_ Serena thought as she slid down against a nearby wall, cell phone still at her ear. There was no doubt about it, she was going to let him touch her again.

* * *

AN: Hey you guys, even though nothing really happens in this chapter. . . the next one will be long. And how do you guys feel about a contemporary fic starring Rei and Jedeite?

[1]There's an eight hour time difference between Seattle and London (which is where Diana is. No Hogwarts for her).

[2] Artemis is dead, but can communicate with Luna and Diana via the astral plane since he's a Spirit. And only Spirits can access the astral plane. Beings that possess a spirit can consciously visit the astral plane through: astral projection, meditation, near death experiences, lucid dreaming and other means.

[3] The type of mage I'm referring to is a technomage (well they're not really mages, but psychics). The psychics in question either have cyberpathy (the ability to intercept, generate, and interpret electronic, digital, and radio transmissions with one's mind) or technopathy (the ability to control and manipulate electronics with the mind)


End file.
